VOLCANOES could be the answer to two key mysteries about how life got started on Earth. They may have forged the form of nitrogen crucial to life, and helped produce primitive protein chains, according to two separate studies.
There was plenty of volcanic and other geothermal activity on early Earth. There is also evidence that the first life forms may have been heat-loving organisms. So researchers looking for clues to where life took hold have focused on geothermally active regions such as volcanoes and deep-sea vents.
One of the pieces of the puzzle involving the origin of life concerns nitrogen.…
