Molecular Origins of Life, Munich 2021

Sitzung

Session V

26.08.2021, 11:00

Online

25. Colossal events in late accretion: A kick-start to the origins of life on Earth?

Ramon Brasser (Origins Research Institute, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences)

26.08.21, 11:00

After its primary accretion had mostly finished, the proto-Earth underwent a catastrophic collision with a stray planetary embryo variably estimated to be at least equivalent to Mars’ mass (Theia). This event effectively reset Earth’s radiometric chronometers such as Pb-isotopes, and gave rise to the Moon. Since then, the Earth-Moon system has been subjected to collisions with smaller solar...

24. Astrophysical origins of biomolecular homochirality

Cornelia Meinert (University of Côte d'Azur)

26.08.21, 11:25

‘How did life choose its handedness?’ Just like our hands mirror each other, but cannot be superimposed on each other, amino acids and sugars exist in left- and right-handed forms. Even if there appears to be no biochemical reason to favor one enantiomer over the other, life on Earth uses almost exclusively left-handed amino acids and right-handed sugars. This is called biological...