Institutional development · Research, innovation and assessment · United Kingdom
Cambridge-led study finds comets an unlikely source of Earth's prebiotic molecules
A University of Cambridge-led modelling study in Scientific Reports argues that comet impacts would almost certainly destroy organic molecules before they could contribute to life on Earth.
Why it matters: Origin-of-life researchers face a Cambridge-led result suggesting comets could have supplied Earth with life's ingredients only as a rare, isolated event.
Using computer simulations, a team led by the University of Cambridge tested the long-held idea that comets supplied Earth with the molecular ingredients for life, the university reported.
According to the university, the modelling indicated that comets arrive at excessive speed and an overly steep angle, so delicate organic compounds would almost certainly be destroyed when they hit the ground.
The team said Mars offered marginally better odds of receiving such compounds from comets, although even there the prospect remains very remote.
The findings appear in Scientific Reports.
Editor’s view
Scott James, Research and Innovation Editor
For origin-of-life researchers, the Cambridge-led team's modelling points to comets as at most an occasional, accidental source of prebiotic molecules for Earth, with Mars only marginally more likely.
