Abstract: 
Extraterrestrial objects accreting to the Earth have a wide range in its size and velocity. Hypervelocity impacts of meteorites create interactions between meteorites and terrestrial materials. This interaction has the potential to produce organic compounds including life’s building molecules on the prebiotic Earth. Conversely, lower velocity impacts do not provide significant impact heating to the meteorite components. Thus, in this case, intact extraterrestrial organics have the possibility to be delivered to the prebiotic Earth if the meteorites contain such organics. I will introduce the impact synthesis of reduced compounds including formaldehyde, amino acids, and nucleobases, and further, introduce the plausible synthetic route of amino acids and sugars in asteroids and their delivery to the Earth in this talk. 

Speaker: Dr. Yoshihiro Furukawa, Tohoku University.

Speaker bio: 
Yoshihiro Furukawa is an associate professor of the Department of Earth Science of Tohoku University. He is doing research on the origin and evolution of life’s building molecules on Hadean Earth and the early solar system. His works cover a wide range of prebiotic chemistry, including impact synthesis, extraterrestrial delivery, phosphorylation, and amino acid/nucleotide polymerization. 

Host: Shawn McGlynn, ELSI

Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2020 at 15:30 JST (Fri, 31 Jul 2020 at 06:30 UTC)

Venue: Online