|Snottites/Biovermiculations are slimy, dripping stalactites
made of goo, that contain bacteria in abundance and beautiful
microscopic gypsum crystal formations. Credit: Diana Northrup
Over the last half century, researchers have found that mineral
surfaces may have played critical roles organizing, or
activating, molecules that would become essential ingredients to
all life, such as amino acids (the building blocks of proteins)
and nucleic acids (the essence of DNA). But which of the
countless possible combinations of biomolecules and mineral
surfaces were key to this evolution? This vexing question has
stumped scientists for years because of the sheer volume of
possibilities. Now an interdisciplinary team of researchers led
by Robert Hazen, of the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical
Laboratory and former president of the Mineralogical Society of
America, has developed new protocols and procedures for adapting
DNA microarray technology to rapidly identify promising
molecule/mineral pairs. Hazen's Presidential