Life on Earth could have its origins in space, say Lawrence Livermore scientist Nir Goldman and University of Ontario Institute of Technology colleague Isaac Tamblyn. The pair have been simulating comet impact events and found that the extreme temperatures and pressures generated could have produced life building organic compounds – including the building blocks of […]
According to new calculations, planets adrift in space without a “home” solar system are abundant in the universe and scientists have proposed that these nomad planets might not only sustain life, but transport it as well. The theory stems from a study published in theMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society that proposed an upper […]
NASA scientist Richard B. Hoover has sparked controversy with claims that he has identified bacterial microfossils in several meteorites. If proved correct, the implications are that life is common throughout the universe, and that life on Earth may have come from other planets. Hoover’s paper is set to be published in The Journal of Cosmology […]
Panspermia, the theory that life on Earth may have evolved from simple bacteria that arrived via meteorite is still a hotly debated topic amongst astrobiologists, but an important new discovery indicates that the basic building blocks of life – known as nucleobases – may be a far more likely extraterrestrial contender for kick-starting life on […]
A new computer model of our solar system’s movement relative to the Milky Way indicates that it “bounces” up and down through the plane of the galaxy; a cycle that scientists say is a “beautiful match” with the mass extinction events that occur periodically on Earth. Writing in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical […]
The primordial organic soup that spawned life on Earth may have gotten some special ingredients from outer space, according to scientists at the Carnegie Institution. Their study, appearing in Meteoritics and Planetary Science, reports concentrations of amino acids in two meteorites that are more than ten times higher than levels previously measured in other similar […]
A new study in the International Journal of Astrobiology contends that it is overwhelmingly likely that life came to Earth inside a radioactive comet with a liquid water core. Not wanting to hedge their bets, the scientists involved calculate the odds of life starting on Earth rather than inside a comet at one-trillion-trillion to one […]
