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This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute.

In 1953 a student named Stanley Miller¹ did an experiment showing that the simple chemicals present on the early Earth could give rise to the basic building blocks of life. Miller filled a flask² with water, methane³, hydrogen and ammonia—the main ingredients in the primordial⁴ soup. Then he zapped the brew⁵ with electricity to simulate lightning, and, voila, he created amino acids, crucial for life. Now, scientists have reanalyzed this classic experiment, and found that the results were even more remarkable⁷ than Miller had realized.

Jeffrey Bada, a former student of Miller’s, preserved the chemicals that were produced by those original sparks. And he analyzed⁶ the samples using equipment that wasn’t available in the ‘50s. He discovered an even greater variety of organic materials than Miller originally reported. For example, Bada’s team identified 22 amino acids where Miller only saw 11, results that appear in the October 17th issue of Science. They also found that Miller didn’t even report his best results, which came from a flask that was bathed in some steamy volcanolike vapors⁸. That setup produced an even richer mix of amino acids. I guess Miller felt that he’d proved his point without needing any data that were primordially⁹ souped up.

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.