An asteroid’s impact with primordial Earth could have created RNA building blocks, one of the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life.
The question of life’s origins has long fascinated humanity, and new scientific research may point us in the direction of life’s origin. Hold onto your hats people, the catalyst for all life may be extraterrestrial.
Extraterrestrial RNA Delivered By Asteroid
An experiment using state-of-the-art computational methods to simulate an asteroid impact on Earth’s early atmosphere created all four RNA nucleobases, the precursor to all current life on Earth.
The experiment utilized both electric discharge and laser-driven plasma impact simulations to mimic the effects of an asteroid on primordial Earth. The experiment strongly supports the idea that the building blocks of all life on Earth could have emerged from an asteroid impact in Earth’s early atmosphere.
A team from the Czech Academy of Science and Charles University in Prague released their findings in an article edited by Jerrold Meinwald of Cornell University.
What Is RNA?
RNA contains four different bases. Three are the same as in DNA: adenine, guanine, and cytosine. RNA contains uracil while DNA contains thymine. The widely accepted RNA world hypothesis states that self-replicating ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules are the precursors to all current life on Earth.
An asteroid impact created early RNA, the early building blocks of life on Earth are extraterrestrial, and the genetic makeup of humans is likely to have originated in a galaxy far, far away. We’re living in the future, and it’s an exciting time to be alive.
The RNA world would have eventually been replaced by the DNA-RNA-protein world of today, but it is now clear that the RNA that laid the foundation for all life on Earth is most likely extraterrestrial.
As Carl Sagan said, “We are made of star-stuff.”
