Life on Earth May Have Come From Mars

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GrnMarvl14

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H.G. Wells might not have been that far off when he wrote about aliens from Mars coming to Earth.

"It may not be likely," NASA researcher David Morrison told National Geographic News, "but we cannot exclude the possibility that we are, in effect, all Martians."

Panspermia, or the idea that Earth was "seeded" by life from outer space, is centuries old but until lately has not had much scientific evidence to support it.

But a European experiment last month demonstrates that microscopic life could indeed survive inside rocks hurtling through space.

A team led by John Parnell from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland embedded fossilized microbes into a fake meteorite strapped to the exterior of the Russian Foton M3 scientific-research probe, which went into orbit on Sept. 26 and came back to Earth 12 days later.

"In the bit of rock we got back, some biological compounds have survived," Parnell told National Geographic News.

The large number of rocks from Mars that end up on Earth lends credence to the hypothesis that terrestrial life may have had its origin on the Red Planet, which 4 billion years ago was much more hospitable than Earth was at the same time.
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Original National Geographic article.

Yes, the FoxNews story is a skewed version of the National Geographic story, but it's still a cool story. I always love the theory of an alternate-world origin for Earth's life (or parts of it).
 
So does this mean men really are from Mars...?
 
GrnMarvl13 said:
If not for the fact that Jupiter's incapable of harboring life because it's, essentially, an aborted star...who knows?
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People keep on repeating this, but I don't think that's right. Jupiter is far too small to have been anywhere close to being a brown dwarf, let alone a star. Something with 50-70 Jupiter masses, on the other hand...
 
Zhen Lin said:
People keep on repeating this, but I don't think that's right. Jupiter is far too small to have been anywhere close to being a brown dwarf, let alone a star. Something with 50-70 Jupiter masses, on the other hand...
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I was taught that Jupiter is, essentially, an aborted star that, had it gained more mass (along with a few other things, I'm sure), would have become a second sun. Admittedly, that was about a decade ago, when Pluto was still just called a planet. Our understanding of the worlds around us tends to change. And, I might just be misremembering things. Though that leads me to wonder where I picked up the term "aborted star."

llxwarbirdxll said:
You do understand what I meant by that though, right?
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I figure one of two things:

1. You're sarcastically expressing your disbelief in the theory.
2. You're wondering if life didn't just hop across the solar system, leaving little pieces here and there.
 
GrnMarvl13 said:
I figure one of two things:

1. You're sarcastically expressing your disbelief in the theory.
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Close. I was just saying that, even though we might have come from Mars, that still doesn't help answer where or how life originated, in the first place. Basically, I'm just saying that if life on Earth came from another planet, then the life on Mars must have originated from another planet as well.
 
llxwarbirdxll said:
Close. I was just saying that, even though we might have come from Mars, that still doesn't help answer where or how life originated, in the first place. Basically, I'm just saying that if life on Earth came from another planet, then the life on Mars COULD have originated from another planet as well.
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Fixed, I think.
 
llxwarbirdxll said:
Close. I was just saying that, even though we might have come from Mars, that still doesn't help answer where or how life originated, in the first place. Basically, I'm just saying that if life on Earth came from another planet, then the life on Mars must have originated from another planet as well.
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You seem to be treating it like the researchers think it's the final piece in the puzzle of life. No one thinks that. It's just a fun little piece. Gives another plausible theory for how things happened. Doesn't give the origin of life, but it makes the journey a little more interesting.
 
Actually, scientists have simulated conditions of what they believe the early Earth was like. They took into account the extreme weather conditions, the heat, and the elements/compounds (Hydrogen, Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxygen) that would have exitsed. Guess what they discovered?

From these simulated conditions, primitive components of life were created spontaneously. I believe that what was created were some proteins, some partial strands of RNA, and liposomes.

There is nothing to say that life couldn't have evolved from absolutely nothing on Earth, Mars, Venus, Titan, or any extrasolar object; in fact, there is evidence for it.
 
llxwarbirdxll said:
Well... If Earth isn't capable of creating life, why should Mars?
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Who's to say Earth isn't capable of creating life? This theory doesn't discredit that one. Two cars hit, there are a thousand reasons WHY they might have hit. If one person's drunk, it doesn't mean it was the result of drunk driving. The possibilities are endless...and this is just one more.
 
I saw on the cover of Scientific America today that life may have evolved seperately on Earth several times. I didn't buy or read the issue though, so I can't confirm the details inside.
 
It does give possibilities for life to exist elsewhere in the Solar System as well. I know Europa is a prime candidate, with a possible liquid water sea under the ice shell and life could thrive around geothermal vents like on Earth. If already established life impacted Europa it could find itself right at home.

It's even been suggested life could evolve in the atmosphere of gas giants. Organic molecules take on a parachute structure and from there a kind of floating life develops. Granted it's unlikely but not unfeasible.
 
Like my sister and many others said, "Who came first, the chicken or the egg?"

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
 
I just thought of a joke.

On the fourth day God created life and thought "it was good". But then he thought life would be better placed on the next planet over.
 
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