In the Planetary and Space Science issue for 15 Sep (vol. 264):
Ramírez-Vázquez, L. Duarte-Ruiz, A. A. Santiago-Santos, M. G. et al. Stability of adenine in interaction with saponite in a simulated hydrothermal impact-generated system and its… Art 106151 .2025.106151
Experimental astronomy again. If we can recreate, in our labs, the end results that we find in nature, then that means that our recreation successfully encompassed all the relevant features of that bit of nature. And if we have encompassed everything relevant, then we’ve understood the history and processes that make that bit of nature work.
This particular paper has, as the big picture, organics on meteorites. Yes, we’ve found organic compounds in meteorites that have (are!) landing on Earth, and yes, these chemicals are cosmic, not contamination from Earth’s biosphere. The big big picture, then, is meteorites seeding the early Earth with the ingredients and precursors of life. Deep, eh?
The not-so-big picture: many carbonaceous chondrite meteorites (the meteorite class with the most organics) are rich in saponites- basically, clay. Clays are, on a microscopic level, sheets of mineral, with water between mineral layers. That’s why clay feels wet, and why baking clay makes it turn to something ‘non-clayey’. If saponite or other clays can store interlayer water, is that interlayer space also a refuge for organics, and therefore life(-ish)? Ramírez-Vázquez et al. say yes. Organics, as represented by the stand-in adenine, are significantly more durable when present in the typical clay saponite.