We May Be Extraterrestrials After All
London (UK) - Scientists from the Imperial College of London claim to have found evidence that life on our planet did not originate from Earth itself. For the first time, the scientists say, it is confirmed that an important component of early genetic material found in meteorite fragments is of extraterrestrial origin.
We had a lot of space and alien stories lately, with one particular interesting making even the Larry King show. But any of that material could be considered insignificant, if Zita Martins’ claims, a research associate at the Department of Earth Science and Engineering of the Imperial College, are in fact correct. According to the researcher, at least parts of the raw material that are believed to have been required to create the first molecules of DNA and RNA may be of extraterrestrial origin.
Martins and her colleagues said they discovered uracil and xanthine, which are precursors to the molecules that make up DNA and RNA and are known as nucleobases in rock fragments of the Murchison meteorite, which crashed in Australia in 1969. She explained that "early life may have adopted nucleobases from meteoritic fragments for use in genetic coding which enabled them to pass on their successful features to subsequent generations."
Apparently, the researchers were successful in proving that the molecules came from space and were not a result of contamination when the meteorite landed on Earth. What supports Martins claims is the fact that meteor showers are believed to have been common several billions of years ago on Earth: "Between 3.8 to 4.5 billion years ago large numbers of rocks similar to the Murchison meteorite rained down on Earth at the time when primitive life was forming," the press release from the Imperial College reads. "The heavy bombardment would have dropped large amounts of meteorite material to the surface on planets like Earth and Mars."
Mark Sephton, also of Imperial’s Department of Earth Science and Engineering, believes this research is an important step in understanding how early life might have evolved. "Because meteorites represent left over materials from the formation of the solar system, the key components for life - including nucleobases - could be widespread in the cosmos," he said. "As more and more of life’s raw materials are discovered in objects from space, the possibility of life springing forth wherever the right chemistry is present becomes more likely."
The findings are published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
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DXRick So, the "lightening striking the primordial soup" theory is out now? I will have to alter my understanding of my existence:Reply
There was this Big Bang, meteorites with DNA struck the earth, some creature crawled out of the sea, and yada yada yada I was born.
Got it! -
sacre DXRick if you simplify it like that, it will sound stupid. That is what makes Evolution unpopular between many, is the fact you eggheads love to Simplify it to make sound like it just doesn't make sense.Reply
What doesn't make sense imo is god snapping his fingers and boom we're all here. Fossiles, Fossile fuels, Carbon dating all disproved that years ago. The only other explanation that has hard evidence would be the Evolutionary theory.
Now as for us coming from a meteor. Eh, W/e makes more sense. I couldn't care less because i'm alive. -
I think things like this are too much for common people to swallow. For example, if it could be proven mathematically that god did or did not exist, it would create quite a bit of disaray and no matter what there would be disbelief.Reply
Though I do find this very intersting and can't wait to hear more come out of this. -
jimmysmitty Sacre, problem with carbon dating is it has been prove to be unreliable. I myself find evolution to have too may holes in order to be true.Reply -
someguy777 The whole thing about life's origins only makes sense to me that it was created. I mean please explain to me how the universe got here if it wasn't created at some point. The whole scientific community relies on the principles of conservation of mass-energy to solve difficult problems, but will then turn around and say the big bang came out of nowhere? You have to start with mass, or you have to start with energy. You can't start with nothing and get something if you ask me.Reply -
sacre That is where our logic fails, some things in this universe don't make sense, but we try our damnest to make sense of it anyways because our knowledge is based around that.Reply
Evolution has holes, yes, but we've only been studying it for less the 100 years, give it time. We will eventually find out how it all came to be, until then its just discovery after discovery. -
hesido Believing the existence of god implies you can believe in an infinitely complex being that existed forever. If you can believe that, I can believe in relatively simpler explanations of how life started on earth. We should all remember evolution does not try to answer how universe came to be.Reply
Big bang theory is still controversial btw, it needed a lot of patching since its inception. The father of the theory was a actually a priest, just a side note. -
sacre Like my old man said, Evolution is the answer to how we came to be. God answers how it all began. The very urge we have to life, to change and adapt to continue living is the force that god created. something like that. ITs pretty interestingReply