Transition metal catalysts could be key to origin of life, scientists report
Friday, September 3, 2010 - 16:49
in Physics & Chemistry
One of the big, unsolved problems in explaining how life arose on Earth is a chicken-and-egg paradox: How could the basic biochemicals -- such as amino acids and nucleotides -- have arisen before the biological catalysts (proteins or ribozymes) existed to carry out their formation?