Recent studies highlight the asteroid Bennu as supporting the panspermia hypothesis, suggesting that life's building blocks may have arrived on Earth from outer space.
The article discusses the ongoing debate regarding the origins of life on Earth, contrasting the widely accepted chemosynthetic thesis, which claims that life emerged from spontaneous chemical reactions on primitive Earth, with the more provocative panspermia theory. The latter suggests that life's basic components did not originate on Earth but rather arrived via extraterrestrial means such as meteorites and comets.
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences adds weight to the panspermia hypothesis by focusing on asteroid Bennu, a near-Earth object approximately 500 meters in diameter and estimated to be around 4.6 billion years old, roughly the same age as our planet. This asteroid is classified as potentially dangerous due to its estimated probability of impacting Earth, which underscores its relevance in discussions about life's origins.
The implications of this research are significant, as they could shift our understanding of how life developed on Earth. If confirmed, the panspermia theory might alter the scientific narrative regarding the emergence of life and suggest that our planet is part of a larger cosmic ecosystem where life can travel and potentially originate in various places across the universe.
