A new study has discovered that hot vents on the seabed could produce organic molecules that are necessary for life. The study was conducted by chemists from the University College London (UCL). According to the chemists, the study showed that minerals coming from the hot beds have chemical properties that are similar to properties of enzymes. Enzymes are the biological catalysts that have reaction in living organisms.

The hot vents are fissures in the surface of earth and eject geothermally heated water. Such hot vents could be present at sites of undersea volcanoes. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the hot vents were first discovered about four decades ago when researchers were exploring ocean ridges near the Galapagos Islands, a volcanic archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.

According to the researchers, in the extreme environment of the hydrothermal vents, they discovered a number of never-before-seen living organisms. Now, chemists from the UCL showed how the necessary building blocks of organic life were available on the planet before it emerged. The study by UCL team also showed that the very first life forms on earth could have arisen in the hot environments of hydrothermal vents.

In a UCL statement, team leader Nora de Leeuw said, "There is a lot of CO2 dissolved in the water, which could provide the carbon that the chemistry of living organisms is based on, and there is plenty of energy, because the water is hot and turbulent". According to Leeuw, the study has proved that the vents also have chemical properties that encourage organic molecules to recombine into molecules that are linked to living organisms.

According to the chemists, the new study has more than just theoretical applications. The study suggested a way by which carbon-based chemicals can be created out of carbon dioxide.