Overview
- CU Boulder–led laboratory simulations illuminated mixtures of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen sulfide, generating trace sulfur‑bearing organics without biology.
- Using high‑sensitivity mass spectrometry, researchers identified cysteine, taurine, and coenzyme M in the resulting organic haze, with tentative signals for methionine and homocysteine.
- Scaling lab yields to planetary levels, the team estimated atmospheric production equivalent to roughly 10^27 cells’ worth of cysteine across early Earth.
- The study proposes that these compounds could have reached surface environments via rainfall and settling, potentially supplying prebiotic chemistry even if life arose in specialized niches.
- Findings challenge assumptions about sulfur as a strict biosignature and follow prior work showing dimethyl sulfide can form abiotically, informing interpretation of JWST detections on exoplanets.