One thing is certain: life on Earth emerged very early in the history of planet Earth. There are few concrete answers to the questions of how and where the first organic molecules were formed. One popular theory assumes that the breeding ground for life was hydrothermal vents deep under the sea. Researchers are proposing a new plausible scenario for the origin of life on Earth: Meteorites. The iron they contain could have played a decisive role in the formation of the first building blocks of life.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich have used experiments with meteorites and volcanic ash to show a new way in which organic molecules could have formed under the conditions on early Earth. ...
