The experiments are a follow-up to experiments at Nemo Science Museum focusing on early Earth scenarios. Petrignani is also involved in the analysis of these previous experiments, which is currently underway.

The three flasks emulate extraterrestrial scenarios inspired by the contemporary search for life in our solar system and beyond:

• An enriched Earth-like world with liquid water, clay and organic material from meteorites.
• An ice world with a thaw-freeze cycle inspired by ice moons in our solar system.
• A greenhouse world with higher temperatures, such as Venus - or Earth in 100 years, if carbon dioxide concentrations continue to increase.

A new feature of the current experiments is that from two of the three flasks samples will be taken to monitor their evolution over the years. Petrignani expects to take a sample each year, presuming that sufficient ‘primordial soup’ will have formed in the flasks.

One of the experiments had already been started at Nemo Science Museum during the 2024 Weekend of the Wetenschap. However, it experienced unexpected and unwanted chemical phenomena, so that it was terminated and will now be started again.

See also

Unravelling the chemistry of life’s origins