New finding boosts Panspermia theory that life on Earth originated in deep space | Hacker News Reader

New finding boosts Panspermia theory that life on Earth originated in deep space

nautil.us

31 pointsgeox19 comments

Wikipedia defines panspermia as living organisms being spread throughout the universe. An unreviewed paper about carbonic acid in outer space does not directly have a connection to panspermia. The topic of panspermia is being pushed by the article.

Such clickbait. The earth itself originated in deep space. Does anyone believe carbonic acid (which is formed anywhere CO2 and water are together) exists only here? How does finding one molecule living beings use in space further at theory about life when nobody would deny it’s out there?

Can you just tell us we found carbonic acid in space without trying to make it into some huge discovery it isn’t?

If carbonic acid has not been found before in space then this is an actual discovery. It dies not suffice to reason about something to prove it’s existence, you also must actually do the leg work of proving it. This is the main difference in scientific age and the ages that preceded it - logical reasoning is not sufficient.

It’s a discovery, it’s just not one that changes your handicapping of the odds of if life exists elsewhere or came from elsewhere. The headline is just taking a discovery and making it click bait.

I’ve always wondered if the idea that life originated on Earth might not be the last geocentrism.

Edit: I’ve always found this fascinating:

https://phys.org/news/2013-04-law-life-began-earth.html

An earth origin of our life assumes that life could appear anywhere that conditions are favorable. There would be not single center of life just of our type of life.

Panspermia allows for life to arise from somewhere else that could, itself, be a center of life.

“Confirmations should count only if they are the result of risky predictions; that is to say, if, unenlightened by the theory in question, we should have expected an event which was incompatible with the theory - an event which would have refuted the theory.”

Some ingredients of life likely came from deep space. That doesn’t mean that life did.

To be pedantic, all ingredients of life - and everything else - comes from deep space!

That we find organic molecules in space isn't that surprising either, carbon does like to bond with other atoms.

"We are made of star stuff"

-- Carl Sagan

"But you are made of my stuff" - your dad

Earth's early atmosphere is estimated to have had several hundred times as much CO2 as it does now, which would have dissolved in the ocean, and then you can get a whole host of simple organic molecules - alchols, hydrocarbons, aldehydes and so on - via reactions catalyzed by volcanic particles. Space carbonic acid not required (and it forms from CO2 in water anyway). See for example

Synthesis of prebiotic organics from CO2 by catalysis with meteoritic and volcanic particles (2023)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37231067/

Panspermia seems to have for us today the psychological role that atomic "theory" had for Democritus and ancient greeks: it was a logical argument, back then not at all supported by experiment, that helped organize thoughts and pinned them on a plausible starting point.

In analogy, the mystery around how life may have come about is helped by removing Earth-centricity as a constraint and thinking in broader biophysical patterns.

It also provides motivation and inspiration for research angles that might otherwise not be in our scientific crosshairs.

For context, it's worth checking out the 1952 Miller-Urey Experiment that demonstrates how amino acids could have been created in a primitive Earth environment without any of the carbonic acid seeding that the article suggests occurred.

Pages 10 to 13 in my book delves into life's origins on Earth:

* https://impacts.to/downloads/lowres/impacts.pdf

Sources:

* https://impacts.to/bibliography.pdf

It's certainly possible that amino acids had extraterrestrial origins. IMO, Occam's Razor suggests that the Miller-Urey experiment provides a simpler answer: the building blocks of life formed on early Earth.

The Science is settled. We ARE stardust! I’m going to grab my boyfriend and get down to the local craft brewery to celebrate!

The DNA indicates single common ancestor, with panspermia shouldn't there be multiple common ancestors?

Not if only one species came to earth.

Multiple ancestors on earth would likely have had a common ancestor elsewhere and would probably be difficult to distinguish from a single ancestor on earth.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com