Slow-moving rocks better odds that life crashed to Earth from space
Monday, September 24, 2012 - 16:00
in Astronomy & Space
Microorganisms that crashed to Earth embedded in the fragments of distant planets might have been the sprouts of life on this one, according to new research. The researchers provide the strongest support yet for "lithopanspermia," the idea that life came to Earth -- or spread from Earth to other planets -- via meteorite-like planetary fragments cast forth by disruptions such as volcanic eruptions and collisions with other matter.