Talk:PAH world hypothesis

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[edit] VFD: 6 June 2006

Strong delete. I am the editor responsible for this notice. I work in origin of life research and the theory is simply implausible. I realize this may not be sufficient for deletion, but judging by its lack of publication in a peer-reviewed journal, I think it either constitutes original research or is just too out-there to keep around. The thermodynamics aren't very plausible and the theory (e.g., http://darwin.nap.edu/books/0309094321/html/221.html this book chapter). The proponent has not articulated a significant argument anywhere in the open literature as to the theory (a "PAH world" query on google scholar or scifinder returns no relevant results). At best, this entry should be marked with strong, strong warnings as to the fact that it is regarded as a fringe theory. However, I feel the lack of any documentation aside from a book chapter (note that it is from a very close colleague and collaborator - do not mistake this for a scientific publication) merits deletion. Sorry if I haven't obeyed any of the arcane wiki rules, I'm just a casual user! 24.181.29.106

I'm looking into this to see if there is new information - so am resetting the time. Codec 13:16, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

Ok - I talked to the author, and I think the article should be kept. The reason are:

  1. Upcoming publication of some of the details in the Astrobiology journal
  2. The Ph.D. thesis this work is based on should be published soon

The model has also been reviewed informally by a number of those in the field, and been presented at academic lectures. Whilst the model is still hypothetical, a enough analysis has been done to be worthy of a doctorate. The article clearly has the word hypothesis in the title, so shows it's status as still under investigation. The author is also happy to discuss the theromdynamics of the interactions. Codec 08:13, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for looking into it, look forward to hearing about it. 24.181.29.106

Has anybody looked at PAHs as the precursor molecules to chlorophyll and the heme group. These are important molecules in electron transfer in living processes and in both photosynthesis and respiration. I would have thought that they would have a mention here as porophyns are PAH derived. John D. Croft (talk) 21:27, 15 May 2008 (UTC)