Question:

Have you ever done the Miller experiment from 1953, where they synthesized 22 of the 24 amino acids we need to live? If so how did it turn out?

Answer:


There are hundreds of thousands of chemists. Probably no more than one or two have ever tried to repeat the Miller experiment because there is really not much reason to repeat it. I assume that if any scientist were to repeat the experiment, they would get a nearly identical result. That is how nature works. If you do the same experiment, you get the same result.
By the way, you have obviously read somewhere about this experiment. Whoever you read is not particularly well informed about the Miller experiment. First of all, there are only 20 important amino acids. Second, Miller did not discover nearly this many of the amino acids in his experiment. Not only did the experiment not produce all the required amino acids, the experiment produced an equal mixture of R- and L- amino acids, which could not produce usable proteins. Besides, many other compounds besides the amino acids were made, many of which would interfere with the formation of proteins. In the final analysis, the Urey Miller experiment has virtually no significance to hwo life might have been created by random processes. It is my strong belief, based on scientific evidence, that life was not created by a natural process.


John Oakes

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