Question

Can you tell me about the Stanley-Urey experiment?

You are probably referring to the historic experiment done by Stanley Miller in 1953--a doctoral student of Harold Urey at the time. Miller's experiment demonstrated the possibility of the inorganic synthesis of some of the fundamental building blocks of life, given conditions that were assumed to resemble those of the ancient earth. Miller reproduced his professor's concept of the early Earth by creating a chamber containing only hydrogen, water, methane, and ammonia. He then boiled the water and used an electric discharge to mimic lightning in order to "speed up" geologic time. After only a week, Miller observed that a residue of compounds had settled in his system. The results were extraordinary: Organic compounds had been formed, most notably some of the building blocks of life known as amino acids.

Miller's simulation of the ancient Earth remains a landmark in the scientific investigation of the origin of life. Likewise, Miller's work (since the proposed atmosphere was based on the natural abundance of certain elements in the universe) suggests that similar atoms and amino acids may be formed elsewhere, on planets formed in the same manner as Earth.
January 28, 2002