In the 1950s two scientists named Miller and Urey did an experiment that showed that basic chemicals - water, ammonia, hydrogen and methane - in a glass container exposed to electric sparks will form life-precursor proteins. They argued it was plausible life began out of naturally occurring processes resembling those in their experiment.
Recently, scientists wondered if the Miller-Urey glass containers (made of silicates) played a catalytic role in the outcomes they documented. They demonstrated that the glass is important and observed that silicate-rich rocks were common on the early earth, and likely on other planets as well.
Possible implications include an increased likelihood that life exists on many worlds, rather than a few.
