But it turns out Nickelback is actually responsible for life as we know it, at least that’s what NASA says.
Only they’re not talking about the band. NASA is referring to amino acids, metal ions, and other sciencey stuff.
Cosmos Magazine reported that Life on Earth, and potentially other worlds, might have started after a unique fusion of amino acids with metal ions, say NASA researchers who think they’ve found the peptide central to the earliest metabolic events.
Such ancient metabolic reactions would have been the opening acts of Earth life’s more than three-billion-year journey.
And they were probably made possible thanks to a protein fragment possessing a spine of nickel-bonded nitrogen molecules.
The peptide, dubbed ‘Nickelback’ in reference to its metal-bonded backbone, could now be used by space explorers as a marker to detect life on other planets.
A team at Rutgers University working on the NASA Astrobiology program, were hunting for molecular ‘biosignatures’ that could point to the presence of early life. They took a list of known metabolic proteins, considered their constituent structures – amino acids and peptides – and whittled these down to a sole candidate. (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abq1990)
With its 13 amino structure binding to two nickel ions, Nickelback appears feasible as an early life biosignature, as it likely played a role in hydrogen reactions. The team believes primordial, nickel-rich oceans with water-soluble ions present in the protein, are likely to have served a role in catalysing hydrogen reactions.
While today’s complex organisms use oxygen in aerobic energy reactions, early cellular life would have relied on hydrogen in metabolic processes. When bound to the amino acid chain, the two nickel ions would have drawn protons and electrons that catalyse hydrogen.
Identifying Nickelback and its potential role in early metabolism marker marks another step towards learning why proteins are fundamental to life on our planet, and it’s hoped it will give a powerful candidate to focus on in NASA’s efforts exploring the universe for life beyond Earth.
Gee, I think this would have been more interesting if it was the actual band “Nickelback” who started life on earth, and it would really explain a lot about the clown world we’re currently living in.
