A simple, safe approach has been developed by scientists to conduct the famous Miller-Urey experiments, eliminating the risk of explosions because of spark in the highly inflammable gases. The Miller -Urey experiments were aimed to figure out the origin of life on earth.

Eric Parker and his group from the Georgia Institute of Technology, researchers from NASA and Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed the new method.

The researchers said that it is easy and safe to conduct the experiment in parts by evacuating ignitable cases like oxygen, methane and hydrogen from the reaction vessel before initiating the spark.

The original experiment was devised by Stanley Miller and Harold Urey in 1953. Their experiments concluded that organic compounds played a key role in formation of life on earth.

The experiment helps scientists to create amino acids and other compounds in the laboratory. Small molecules that were present on the earth when simple forms of life emerged are used to create the organic compounds in question, said the researchers.

The original device is risky as it sparks simulated lightening in a reaction vessel containing flammable and explosive gases.

The team has published the simple and much safer method in Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE).