Scientists Conduct Experiments to Test Building Blocks of Alien Life, Build an Exoplanet From Scratch

Can scientists build another Earth from scratch? It could be a long shot but researchers are experimenting with building blocks of life in order to build another exoplanet that may just cater to alien life.

To do that, they will have to identify specific amino acids first that are the core building blocks of life. These are required to make proteins to support life.

The same theory is being studied for it to be used for extraterrestrial or alien life. Currently, researchers are studying 15 amino acids that are found in and out of the planet. They are being analyzed as to how they can function and react in extreme weather conditions like that on the moon and other planets.

"In a different extraterrestrial locale, the proteins in an organism would not necessarily be the same as that of an organism on Earth, so they might use amino acids that are known to us but not used to make proteins on Earth," Claire Mammoser, an undergraduate research assistant from Laura Rowe at Valparaiso University said in a press release. 

Mammoser added that the study aims fo see if the structural characteristics of the amino acids could lead to a more table extraterrestrial condition.

The findings of the study are highly anticipated by the scientific community since there are a lot of people, experts included, who are interested to find out about the possibility of alien life sprouting from carefully manipulated set of amino acids. If successful, the technology may also be applied to build new exoplanets from scratch.

To study the amino acids, they are exposed to extreme conditions like radiation, heat, PH and ultraviolet to simulate the conditions on Mars and other bodies in the Solar System. The team is also scheduled to perform experiments from amino acids harvested from meteorites.

"Finding trends in amino acid stability would give us an idea of what sort of amino acids may have survived in outer space long enough to create life," Mammoser added.

The scientists involved with the study are hopeful that their findings will help pave the way for technologies that would allow building blocks of alien life to thrive, and event creates exoplanets conditions from scratch.