Bus-sized Meteorite Gives Clues To Earth's Origin

This unnamed correspondent was one of the first to note this article: "Orginally posted here, scientists are looking at fragments of a meteorite that came to Earth in the Canadian Yukon. It's carbon-rich, and may contain clues about early life." The meteorite made a fiery appearance over the Yukon in January, and the fragments which are so interesting were recovered by a Canadian named Jim Brock, who gave them up for study by scientists from the University of Western Ontario. Why so exciting? As the article explains, "Preliminary tests of the pristine material find that it is loaded with organic molecules of the type that some experts have suggested could have been the original raw materials for the formation of life on Earth."

Comments

Re:Extra-terrestrial origin? I think not

[The Dodger]

Um, sorry... forzen water is STILL water.

If I knew what "forzen" is I would probably agree with you! ;-)

My point was that, if the lake hadn't been 'forzen' over, the bits of the meteorite would have landed in liquid water and, given it's consistency (i.e. that of "dried mud"), would probably have sort of dissolved or been otherwise eroded.

This has two implications -

1. The pieces would probably never have been recovered and, even if they had, having been dunked in water would mean that they would have yielded less information (remember that one of the unusual things about these fragments was that they were well-preserved).

2. As another /.er pointed out, life began in the oceans. The fact that the oceans cover the majority of the planet's surface.. (how can I put this) does not disprove the theory that life arrived on Earth courtesy of a meteorite. To me, it's not hugely implausible that a meteorite carrying life splashed down in an ocean and dissolved/eroded, releasing whatever it was carrying into the ocean.

Of course, how the organism found itself floating through space on a collision course with the third planet, in the first place hasn't been fully explained yet (at least, not to me). The only options I can think of are cataclysmic events which would lead to the break-up of a planet/moon/asteroid which already had life, resulting in asteroids/meteors carrying bits of that planet's biomass.

The problem with that theory is that I would imagine that most cataclysmic events of that type wouldn't leave much alive.

Of course, NASA's discoveries relating to the hardiness of bacteria, etc. have interesting implications.

But, at the end of the day, life had to begin somewhere. Whether it was here on Earth or elsewhere in the cosmos, there was, presumably, still a moment where what was inorganic became organic...

But it would be really interesting to find another planet with life, just to see how it evolved in a different environment.

D.
..is for "Don't sneeze on the planets, dear..."

Don't worry about where life has started.. (OT)

[Talonius]

Worry about where it's going. :-) (I can see this happening in ten or twenty years btw..)

http://www.malepregnancy.com

http://www.genochoice.com

(I thought the links were pretty funny. :-))

-- Talonius

Organic matter

[Alioth]

It seems like nobody here really has cottoned onto what organic matter is. Organic matter != living matter.

Someone earlier talked about UV light destroying organic matter. It might be harmful to humans - but organic matter itself?

Organic matter basically means the chains-of-carbon-atom type molecules. It doesn't mean living matter. Gasoline is an organic compound. So is methane, ethane, butane, propane, heptane etc. Ethanol (C2H5OOH, common alcohol) is organic matter. Methylethylketone (MEK, commonly used as solvent, cleaning agent or paint thinner) is organic matter. None of these things alone are living or about to spring to life. In fact, gasoline is very toxic, but it's still an organic compound. To briefly summarize, organic chemistry centres around carbon-based chemistry: not necessarily the chemistry of life.

It is the long carbon chain molecules that make life possible. What I expect they have found in this meteorite are long-chain carbon molecules - not microbes or anything like that. Even so, this is still a very interesting find.

Re:Meteorite

[Verteiron]

What would have happened if the Tunguska event of 1908 had happened 2 hours later? Boom, in the middle of Moscow... Here's some statistics; whether they comfort you or scare you is all in how you look at things. There are probably about 1000 >1km asteroids that cross earth orbit. One of those hits us, on extreme average, every 300,000 years or so. You might be interested in reading this. Also, this place has a lot of good info and links about meteorites, impacts, and the like.

But you've gotta think... between airbursts and small impacts, we're bombarded pretty heavily already. All precautions allowed by our level of technology are being taken; if a meteorite hit us tomorrow, there's not a single damn thing we can do about it. Worrying about it is as pointless (even less so) than worrying about tripping over a sidewalk crack and breaking your neck. If you spend every spare minute thinking about it, yes, you'll be a paranoid wreck. So don't.

Of course, some people (Arthur C. Clarke among others) think it'll take a major impact in a populated area to unite the planet... The problem is it could happen tomorrow.. or 10,000 years from now. We just don't know. (of course, because I said that, and because today's Friday the 13th, I'll probably get hit by one on the way to work)

Oh My God!

[Ben Miller]

You mean we're all CANADIAN??!!

;)