14 DAY TRIAL // The idea that life not only exists outside of our planet, but that life on Earth itself may have originated in outer space has been vehiculated for a while now and has some supporters.
Now, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Hawaii have put some science behind it.
They simulated the conditions in outer space and used materials that make up most comets to see if these conditions could generate the complex organic materials that are the building blocks of life.
Scientists have found basic organic materials, such as amino acids, on meteorites, but nothing more complex than that.
The long standing belief is that complex organic materials were only made possible by the unique conditions on our young planet.
But the researchers found that, with the right mix of materials and the right conditions, complex organic structures could be created in space.
They used a vacuum chamber with a temperature of just 10 Kelvin, 10 degrees above absolute zero, similar to the conditions in space.
They then put together a mini comet made up of things like carbon dioxide, ammonia and various hydrocarbons: methane, ethane and propane.
What they found was that, when hit by energetic electrons, which represented the cosmic rays of outer space, complex organic material was created.
They managed to create dipeptides, a type of organic molecules made up of a pair of amino acids linked via a peptide bond or one amino acid with two peptide bonds.
These are essential building blocks of life, a part of all forms of life on our planet. What this suggests is that conditions in outer space, comets in particular, are right for complex organic material.
What's more, comets carrying these organic molecules frequently crashed to Earth, especially in the early days of the solar system. So, outer space objects were a clear source of at least some of the organic material on the young Earth.
That doesn't mean life started out from this material, these compounds may have formed on our planet as well, but it does create the possibility. What's more, it shows that organic material created on comets could be carried to any of the planets of the solar system, including Mars or early days Venus.