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Science 25 September 1998:
Vol. 281. no. 5385, pp. 1936 - 1937
DOI: 10.1126/science.281.5385.1936b
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News of the Week

ORIGIN OF LIFE:
A Biomolecule Building Block From Vents

Robert F. Service

Researchers studying the origins of life have been unable to come up with a mechanism that would have produced enough ammonia on the early Earth for amino acids to form. Now, a team of researchers reports in this week's issue of Nature that they may have found a major source of early ammonia: the hot springs on the deep sea floor. In a series of laboratory tests, the researchers found that minerals deposited there make efficient catalysts for converting nitrogen into ammonia at the high temperatures and pressures of the vents.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)