New Study: Life On Earth Began on Meteorites

Are we all aliens from outer space? Based on research from NASA and the Carnegie Institution for Science, it isn’t a far-fetched idea. A new study found that the components of DNA which are essential to life on earth could have come from meteorites.

A team of scientists analyzed 12 meteorites from Antarctica and found that 11 of them contained nucleobases, the rings in the middle of DNA molecules. The study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says that life on earth may have been planted by falling meteorites.

The report reads:

“Meteorites may have served as a molecular kit providing essential ingredients for the origin of life on Earth and possibly elsewhere.”

The Washington Post reports that two of the meteorites examined by the research team contained nucleobases similar to those found on earth, but also exotic nucleobases that had never been seen before.

Max Bernstein, a NASA scientist, said that it is impossible to tell if live originated on earth or if it fell from the sky, but this recent research shows that a world populated by space rocks is at least possible.

Bernstein said:

“These molecules are at the core of [life’s] blueprints. It’s possible that the presence of these molecules in meteorites made us what we are today.”