Blasting the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan with X-rays can
produce a base component of DNA, a new laboratory study
suggests. While the effect may only occur periodically, when
meteoroid impacts deliver water to the moon's surface, the
finding adds to evidence that Titan may be ripe for life. In
some ways, Titan is more like Earth than any other body in the
solar system. It has continents, lakes, clouds, and perhaps even
rain – but where Earth has rock and water, Titan has ice and
methane. It may also harbour an ocean of liquid water beneath
its icy surface that could host life. With its nitrogen-rich
atmosphere and abundance of organic material, Titan seems like a
model of the early Earth. But how did life on Earth get started,
and might a similar process have a chance on Titan? For decades,
researchers have been trying to recreate life's appearance on
the early Earth by zapping materials thought to be present there
with electricity or high-energy photons. The first such trial,
called the Miller-Urey expe