I went to the article. This is a direct quote:
The work “demonstrates how a biologically relevant structure can spontaneously self-assemble in aqueous solution*,” says David W. Deamer, an origins-of-life researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “A similar process was likely to have occurred in the prebiotic environment as an important step toward the linear polymers that were necessary for life to begin.”
*An aqueous solution is a solution in which the solvent is water. It is usually shown in chemical equations by appending (aq) to the relevant chemical formula. For example, a solution of table salt, or sodium chloride (NaCl), in water would be represented as Na+(aq) + Cl−(aq).
When speculating about the naturalistic origins of life on Earth, evolutionists run into a major paradox of basic biological chemistry: While water is the critical medium for all life, it also forms a chemical barrier to the formation of chains of nucleotides such as RNA and DNA that are the foundation of life.
Shalom, Steven
Wasn't the main point of the article exactly that? That they found nucleotides form in a water-based solution?
Once again, things don't magically come into existence. The article points out that this is a plausible mechanism at work that predates RNA and DNA. The question is, what happens when all these nucleotides are around that didn't exist before?
The components necessary for life can be formed only by certain chemical reactions occurring in a specific environment. Water is an unreactive environment for all naturally-occurring chemicals. In a watery environment, amino acids and nucleotides cannot combine to form the polymeric backbone required for proteins and DNA/RNA.
In the laboratory, the only way to cause a reaction to form a polymer is to have the chemical components activated and then placed in a reactive environment. The process must be completely water-free, since the activated compounds would react with water. How could proteins and DNA/RNA be formed in some primordial, watery soup if the natural components are unreactive and if the necessary activated components cannot exist in water?
I don't know what "naturally occuring" means. The point is to show what preconditions can produce what. In this case, they were able to produce nucleotides in water. With nucleotides, other reaction may occur depending on the environment.
You may be forgetting the dynamics of the environment. Something that is in water doesn't have to remain in water - waves, tides and spray comes to mind.
We can't jump into conclusions on what happened and why, we need to understand every step first. And the best way to do so is to try create life. We all know that it is just a matter of time.
Like I said, by throwing things around. For example, something along the lines of this:
https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/50699/title/Building-Blocks-of-Life-May-Have-Formed-in-Water-Droplets/
"Naturally occurring" means existing by nature and without man's assistance as opposed to "synthesizing" to make (something) by synthesis, especially chemically. There are 93 naturally occurring chemical elements.
There are 118 known elements (in this context, "known" means observed well enough, even from just a few decay products, to have been differentiated from other elements). Of these 118 elements, 94 occur naturally on Earth. The other 24 have been synthesized -- they were man-made.
Plastic is material consisting of any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic compounds that are malleable and so can be molded into solid objects BUT do nor occur naturally, they are man-made.
The experiments that you have shared with me -- are scientists trying to synthesize polymers through processes that naturally cannot occur. Yes, they can be synthesized but could never naturally evolve.
Earth’s atmosphere is oxidizing (i.e., oxygen rich) and naturally prohibits the spontaneous formation of biomolecules outside the protection of a living cell.
Water forms a natural chemical barrier to the formation of chains of nucleotides such as RNA and DNA that are the foundation of life.