Mendalla
Happy headbanging ape!!
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Kicking off 2025, we have a couple stories on the role that asteroids might/maybe/could have played in kickstarting life on Earth.
First up, we have PBS Eons with the story of how scientists think early asteroid impacts could have helped get life started. They start with the old Miller experiment, which showed that basic amino acids could have been created by lightning in the early atmosphere. The problem? We no longer think that the "early atmosphere" they simulated for the experiment is actually what the atmosphere was like. But asteroid impacts, which happened fairly often in the very early history of the Earth, might have played a role in creating an environment where it could work.
And in that video, there is some discussion of the findings of the Osiris-Rex mission to the asteroid Bennu, which has now been confirmed to have found many chemicals needed for life on that asteroid. Here's a story from CBC that covers that discovery in more detail.
When you add in the impact that the K-Pg asteroid had on the evolution of life, ending (or helping end) the era of the non-avian dinosaurs and opening an opportunity for their bird relatives and mammals to become dominant, it becomes clear that space impacts have had a major impact on making this planet habitable and on the evolution of life.
As in the past, I mean this to be a thread to celebrate and learn from science and scientists. I don't want to engage in religious or political debate and discussion here. Creationist and other religious discussion can go in R&F, please and thank you. Discussions about the ethics and politics of science can go in other threads.
First up, we have PBS Eons with the story of how scientists think early asteroid impacts could have helped get life started. They start with the old Miller experiment, which showed that basic amino acids could have been created by lightning in the early atmosphere. The problem? We no longer think that the "early atmosphere" they simulated for the experiment is actually what the atmosphere was like. But asteroid impacts, which happened fairly often in the very early history of the Earth, might have played a role in creating an environment where it could work.
And in that video, there is some discussion of the findings of the Osiris-Rex mission to the asteroid Bennu, which has now been confirmed to have found many chemicals needed for life on that asteroid. Here's a story from CBC that covers that discovery in more detail.
When you add in the impact that the K-Pg asteroid had on the evolution of life, ending (or helping end) the era of the non-avian dinosaurs and opening an opportunity for their bird relatives and mammals to become dominant, it becomes clear that space impacts have had a major impact on making this planet habitable and on the evolution of life.
As in the past, I mean this to be a thread to celebrate and learn from science and scientists. I don't want to engage in religious or political debate and discussion here. Creationist and other religious discussion can go in R&F, please and thank you. Discussions about the ethics and politics of science can go in other threads.
