Scientists Say Life Originated on a Comet

[NotReady]

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It's not a question of the first to come up with a semi-plausible idea,


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Na, it's the first to come up with a sense of humor.

[Phil153]

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It's not a question of the first to come up with a semi-plausible idea,


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Na, it's the first to come up with a sense of humor.

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Humor is funny. Like that flood myth apology you linked to earlier. Great stuff.

You've suggested numerous times that the ancients had scientific knowledge (or were given it by God), some of which supposedly found its way into the genesis account.

[NotReady]

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Scientists say life was a SEPTILLION times more likely to have begun within a comet rather than on Earth.


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FWIW, my TV guide shows a PBS, Nova, Origin of Life show coming on at 1 A.M. CT, Sunday, 8/19 - the blurb says the most likely origin was outer space - not sure how old this is.

[durrrr]

i'll take 1000-1

[billygrippo]

while its certainly plausible, this "proof" is based mainly on speculation and not scientific fact

[oe39]

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while its certainly plausible, this "proof" is based mainly on speculation and not scientific fact

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has anyone seen the details of the calculation?

[Borodog]

"International Journal of Astrobiology"?

Is that like the International Journal of Unicorns?

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[PantsOnFire]

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Hmm I don't know, many top scientist still believe it probably originated on earth.

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I think the theory states that there were ingredients on both earth and a comet or asteroid that combined to begin the process of life.

I think this is different than stating all material for life simply landed here and took root.

There are 2 main theories;

1. The primordial soup theory.

The basic premise of this theory is that the basic elements required for life were floating around in the ocean w/e and with the scope of this eventually combined to form life.

2. Panspernian Theory

Life started elsewhere, and was transported here on a comet.


Basic Outline but bare with me, the 2 theories state that life would at one stage have had to combine to create life somewhere in the universe, the debate is simply whether it happened on Earth or not. The notion that it was created on Earth has much more weight behind it than than otherwise.

Ryot,

[TimM]

I'd like to read the original article. I'm sure these popularized science mags omit and distort tons of critical details.

That said, it sounds even more plausible if you consider the possibility that microbial life or protolife in the form of self-replicating molecules form easily and under a variety of conditions. Life or protolife could have formed independently on Earth and some of the comets and say, Mars and other bodies. Earth could have been seeded many times, and the DNA based life we see today may have just been the kind that out competed all the others. Now there are far fewer comets impacting Earth so the likelihood we are still being seeded is much lower.