'Life on Earth came with meteorites' Space rocks brought catalyst for molecules, study shows

(ANSA) - Rome - Life on Earth came with the first meteorite shower to hit the planet, according to a new analysis of an ancient hunk of space rock.



The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, confirmed years of hypotheses that meteorites brought the ammonium that was essential to trigger the formation of life.



The tests, co-ordinated by Italy's Sandra Pizzarello who has been working at the University of Arizona for more than 40 years, were carried out on a very old meteorite found in the Antarctic.



"We found that its composition is more primitive compared to that of other meteorites," the researchers said.



A key finding was that the meteorite's dust released a significant quantity of ammonium when conditions comparable to those on ancient Earth, with extremely high temperatures and pressure, were recreated.



Experts said it was therefore "highly likely" that the ammonium that underlay the first life processes came from space.



This was the catalyst that set off the creation of the first organic molecules, between 4.4 billion and 2.7 billion years ago, researchers said.