Blockchain Technology Simulates Over 4 Billion Chemical Reactions Crucial to Origins of Life
Research team led by Bartosz A. Grzybowski generates largest network of chemical reactions ever created, advancing understanding of early prebiotic chemistry.
- Chemists have used blockchain technology to simulate over 4 billion chemical reactions that are believed to be crucial to the origins of life on Earth.
- The research team, led by Bartosz A. Grzybowski of the Korea Institute for Basic Science and the Polish Academy of Sciences, repurposed the process used in cryptocurrency mining to generate the largest network of chemical reactions ever created.
- The resulting network, named NOEL (Network of Early Life), contains parts of well-known metabolic pathways like glycolysis, close mimics of the Krebs cycle, and syntheses of 128 simple biotic molecules like sugars and amino acids.
- Of the 4.9 billion reactions generated, only hundreds could be called 'self-replicating,' suggesting that self-replication may have appeared later in evolution.
- The research not only advances our understanding of early prebiotic chemistry but also demonstrates how blockchain can be used to solve problems outside the financial sector, potentially making science more accessible to researchers at smaller universities and institutions.
ScienceDaily 
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