Cosmic Dust May Have Brought Life’s Building Blocks to Earth
Scientists propose that cosmic dust, rather than large asteroids, delivered the essential amino acids that sparked life on Earth. With 40,000 tons of dust reaching Earth annually, this mechanism offers a more probable explanation for life’s building blocks. Recent experiments confirm certain amino acids can survive space conditions when attached to dust particles.
New research suggests that life on Earth may have originated from microscopic cosmic dust particles carrying essential organic compounds, challenging the long-held theory that asteroids delivered these building blocks. According to a study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the sheer volume of dust reaching Earth annually makes this a statistically more probable mechanism for seeding our planet with life’s fundamental components.