Earth life originates from meteor shower?

ANSA news agency on Tuesday led a new study, published in the American journal PNAS, that said life on Earth appeared when the first meteor shower fell on our planet.

Model "Grave Nunataks 95229" meteorite

The study, conducted by US scientists at Arizona State University and the University of California, Santa Cruz, has strengthened the hypothesis for years that meteorites have brought to Earth. ammonia, the kind of substance that is necessary for life creation.

Experiments in the study, co-coordinated by Italian scientist Sandra Pizzarello of the University of Arizona, were conducted with a very ancient meteorite sample found in Antarctica. That is the " Grave Nunataks 95229 " meteorite pattern discovered in 1995.

The researchers said they found that the composition of this meteorite model was more primitive than other meteorite samples. An important finding was that when placed in an experimental environment comparable to that of the ancient Earth environment, with extremely high temperatures and pressures, the amount of dust dispersed from this meteorite sample contained an amount. quite large ammonia.

Experts believe that, therefore, it is possible that ammonia that laid the foundation for the first processes related to life comes from the universe. This type of catalyst has accelerated the formation of the first organic molecules, 2.7-4.4 billion years ago.

Chemical analyzes also show that this meteorite is rich in nitrogen. Nitrogen is the element discovered in proteins and DNA that form the basis of life as we know it.

According to the new hypothesis, our planet may have been brought to life by comets or asteroids, because the Earth's tectonic process cannot provide enough components to make molecules. capital needed for processes to create early life.