Panspermia

W0nker

How many of you think that life on Earth orginated from micro organisms that came to Earth via an astroid impact?

Reply 1

cottonmouth

Einsteinium

How many of you think that life on Earth orginated from micro organisms that came to Earth via an astroid impact?

about 3

Reply 2

Agent Smith

It's possible, I suppose. I'm not an expert on the very earliest stages of life, and unless I'm missing something important this is a credible enough explanation for how life first arose on Earth. As credible as the standard "life-from-soup" story (which I appreciate isn't actually as simple as I've made it sound). But I'd imagine it's pretty difficult to prove which actually happened.

Reply 3

W0nker

Well I think it's possible, it was on BBC horizon and they proved that even life on the astroid could still survive the huge impact it has when it hits the ground, only about 100 or so need to survive out of about 1 million bacteria or something.

What it does not explain though is where life really did actully come from, it's such a big mystery!

Reply 4

Agent Smith

Yes. It can't simply hop from planet to planet via innumerable asteroids. Even if one accepts the Panspermia theory, life must have arisen on at least one planet. And if that's the case - if it only happened once, and has simply migrated - then life itself becomes infinitely more precious and special than if the whole universe is full of life that arose independently.

But I'm still not convinced. I'll wait for a scientist to post.

Reply 5

jpowell

There is really no evidence to show that life came from space, it is just speculation. At the moment I'm quite happy to believe life evolved completely on this planet.

Reply 6

bikerx23

Agent Smith

It certainly is possible - what is believed to be bacterial remnants have been found in Mars meteorites.

Still - as jpowell says, there is no evidence for it, and statistically, if nothing else, the chances of it are so slim they are not worth considering. Also - even if it is true, it would not remove research issues like initial amino acid synthesis, so as far as "big questions" in science go it is a pretty inconsequential one...

Reply 7

Agent Smith

That's what I was saying. Life still has to have arisen somewhere, so it doesn't answer that question (although never claims to), it merely avoids it.