黏土,是一种似乎十分贫瘠的矿物质,但它很有可能是地球上生命的起源地,或者至少也是使生命成为可能的复杂生化物质。生物与环境设计学教授同时也是康奈尔大学卡利夫学院纳米科学科研人员罗丹说:“我们认为,在早期的地质历史中,黏土水凝胶对于生物分子与生化反应起到了限制的功能。”在模拟的古代海水中,黏土形成水凝胶——能够像海绵一样吸收液体的微观空间。过了数十亿年,被限制在这些空间中的化学物质通过复杂的化学反应形成蛋白质、DNA,最终形成一整套能 Clay, a seemingly infertile mineral, is likely to be the birthplace of life on earth, or at least a complex biochemical substance that makes life possible. Rodin, a nanoscience researcher at Calif Institute at Cornell University, said: “In our early geological history, clay hydrogels played a limiting role in biomolecular and biochemical reactions. ”In the simulated ancient sea water, clay forms a hydrogel - a microscopic space that absorbs liquids like a sponge. After billions of years, chemicals trapped in these spaces form proteins and DNA through complex chemical reactions, eventually forming a complete set of energy