Long before the first living being appeared on the face of the Earth, it was already full of diamonds . New German research has just shown that, in the presence of hydrogen, these carbon-made gemstones can create thin layers of water on their surface . And that, in addition, thanks to their electrical conductivity , on the surface of hydrogenated diamonds, primitive molecules were able to react and assemble with others to form the complex polymers necessary for life .
According to Andrei Sommer, Dan Zhu and Hand-Joerg Fecht of the University of Ulm, diamonds are currently emerging as the most suitable platform for the origin of the first life forms. His experiments are published in Crystal Growth & Design magazine.
