[pfdietz]

> Tldr the finding is that abiogenesis may be easier to get to than previously thought.

It doesn't really mean that, though. We already knew synthesis of simple amino acids was pretty easy. Urey-Miller did that decades ago. Making the easy part of a multistep process easier doesn't make the whole process much easier.

IMO, the rate-limiting step for OoL is later, when by some means the enormous complexity barrier is reached between abiotic stuff like this and the simplest self-replicating system capable of evolution. Of the latter, the simplest we know (the most stripped down cell) still contains billions of atoms.

[oh_fiddlesticks]

The Urey-Miller experiments did it, but not without investigator interference to separate the product from the toxic byproduct. The experiments have aged poorly and offer no solutions to abiogenesis.

[pfdietz]

How separated were these asteroidal amino acids from toxic byproducts?