'Textbooks got it wrong?': Forget lightning, this is what might’ve really made you alive
Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
Tiny Sparks
Microscopic zaps between crashing water droplets could've formed the building blocks of life—no thunderclouds required.
Splash Chemistry
Water sprays mixed with early Earth gases triggered reactions that made complex organic molecules.
Electric Drops
When charged droplets collided, they sparked—igniting reactions to create uracil and amino acids.
Bold Hypothesis
Dr. Zare’s team proposes microlightning as a powerful new mechanism in prebiotic chemistry.
Lab Lightning
Experiments with high-speed cameras captured real flashes between water droplets forming key compounds.
Charged Collision
Large droplets carried positive charge, small ones negative—when they met, sparks literally flew.
Gas Mix
Nitrogen, methane, CO₂, and ammonia were used to mimic early Earth and trigger molecule creation.
Theory Flip
This challenges Miller-Urey’s ocean-lightning idea, offering a more scalable, frequent alternative.
Credit: EOS.org
Natural Reactor
Waves crashing on rocks, waterfalls, and sprays may have been Earth’s first molecular workshop.