Seeds of Life Came from Outer Space

A meteorite found in Antarctica in 1995 and known as the Grave Nunataks 95229 is providing evidence that may help the theory about life on Earth coming from elsewhere in the universe. Tests conducted on the rock showed that it is made of partly of nitrogen containing both DNA and proteins.

Could the seeds of life come from elsewhere in the universe?

Researchers at both Arizona State University (ASU) and the University of California, Santa Cruz, have been experimenting with extractions taken from the rock. Through their tests, they found that it contained large quantities of hydrocarbons and a surplus supply of ammonia.

The nitrogen within the ammonia is one of the key components to why the discovery is so important. Much of Earth’s biology requires that there be an abundance of the element so that most of the pre-biological processes can occur. Much of the evidence that has been found shows that ammonia was scarcely present, leading scientists and researchers to question where it could have possibly come from.

Theories about where life on our planet have been widely debated. For almost 200 years, people have been interested in meteorites and what they brought to us by landing here, especially after finding out that certain chemicals within them were formed only in extremely cold temperatures or changed by heat.

These meteorites have provided evidence leading to theories about the Asteroid Belt that is located between Mars and Jupiter, saying that the small rocks they produced only landed on Earth after being shot off through space.

Scientists equate these meteorites to space capsules, saying that they contain some of the most basic materials in our solar system, claiming that they record the history of our solar system prior to the formation of the planets as they existed with the protosun’s gaseous nebula. They may contain the information for how this and other solar systems were created and how the live in them evolved.