September 25, 2013

It takes a solar system to create life

Here's a new idea: it may have taken ingredients from several planets to start life on Earth.
Deacon is adamant that whole solar systems are needed to generate life, not just terrestrial planets with water. Life probably needs a solar system similar to our own to start, although autogenic processes could still occur in a system that only has gas giants.
If you're a science-oriented person who loves origin-of-life stories, check out "Did Autocells Lead To Life?" at physorg. If you're not willing to read an actual science article, you'll have to be satisfied with this:

Life may have needed a bit of assistance from the gas giants in our solar system, in order to get started. Something from Jupiter goes to Mars, is transformed there, and then arrives on Earth. Voila: life (or at least autocells, which may have been the precusor to life). I love this stuff!

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