Panspermia: Did Life On Earth Originate In Space?
There was an interesting documentary on the BBC recently about nothing less than the origin of life on Earth. It focused on the theory that life exists in many places in the universe and may have actually been brought to earth on a comet or other object from space.
This theory is called “Panspermia” and isn’t as far-fetched as it first may sound because a scientist who studied a strange red rain that fell in India in 2001 has found some biological cells that do not contain any DNA (edit or RNA). All life on earth contains DNA or RNA so if what this scientist says is correct then the biological cells can’t be from earth.
I find this story very interesting because the most unexplained part of the theory of evolution is how the very first single cell organisms came to exist in the first place. I find it very easy to understand how a single bacteria can develop into a more complex form of life but I can’t understand how life can come from non-living matter. The theory of Panspermia makes more sense than any of the other theories I have read about; this is probably because it doesn’t deal with how life began but how life began on earth.
The scientist who claims that the mysterious red rain that fell in India contained the alien cells is Dr Godfrey Louis who is a professor at Cochin university in Kerela. He says he has carried out various tests that back up his claim but I’m not sure if this has been independently checked. The ability of bacteria found on earth to survive the conditions in space has already been verified by Nasa who is researching specific forms of bacteria that are ideal for space travel.
Panspermia is one hundred million times more viable than creationism but if you were to bring up both theories in conversation with people they would probably find panspermia more wacky than creationism. Why does it have to be this way?
See Panspermia and Dr. Godfrey Louis.
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November 19th, 2006 at 7:18 pm
Welcome to Atheism Online. I just added you to the directory as you requested. This looks like a good atheist blog, and we can always use more of those.
December 6th, 2006 at 11:59 am
“All life on earth contains DNA”
Some viruses don’t; some have only RNA.
December 6th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Hey Omni, you are right. Thanks for the input I’ve edit the post now!
December 30th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Why does it have to be this way?
Because people have common sense? What difference does it make if life came from non-life somewhere else as opposed to here? Is panspermia more believable to you because you think some intelligent designer, er, aliens, created life?
Panspermia is just evolution in Halloween clothes. Creationism is just as likely as evolution, and that says something about the likelihood of evolution.
January 16th, 2007 at 4:22 am
well, the transpermia hypothesis doesn`t touch on the origins of life so much as add another step……….where did the initial spark come from?
those little bits of living matter floating around in space had to come form somewhere initially……….
January 16th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
The interesting thing is that people use the idea that life came from somewhere else as an escuse not answer the real question. Where did life come from?
So if life come from space or whatever then the question is where did that life from whatever it come from start. It like someone telling you that rain comes from clouds.. so where do clouds come from???
So next time someone says life come space just respond… Wow what a nice answer so where did this life from outerspace start… how did atoms form DNA? just like the chicken egg question what come first life or DNA….
February 3rd, 2007 at 6:54 pm
MOST WONDERFULL.DAWKINGS YOU GENIUS…
February 19th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Who is this guy?
I am an atheist and a scientist, a strong believer that religion is wrong and i live in hope that one day the world will be educated by fact and not fiction.
I agree with some of what you are saying but I’d like to know who you are. I stumbled on your page through a google search and you seem to have quite a large audience. You say you bought this website and hope to continue a blog started by someone else? For the record, do you have any scientific credentials with which you are applying to your blogs? Also, how much research do you conduct before you post.
I don’t mean to sound patronising but I would hate to think that someone was posting their views on atheism, which is a conquest for the truth, on untruths or mere media controversy.
March 5th, 2007 at 11:45 am
To Leo,
This theory is not about the origins of life but more about the origins of life on our planet. There is only one school of though that makes the bold/arrogant claim of knowing how life came into existence. Guess which theory
To Faye,
Hey, I’m just a 24 year old human animal. My blog is about science/religion/atheism, just my own thoughts. If I am talking about theories and opinions I usually post a link to a source.
July 20th, 2007 at 6:59 am
why does it have to be more complicated?
because creationism is the easy way out of explaining a bunch of stuff to ‘not so smart’ people…
and panspermia is a scientific idea with science and math and real things that take a lot of explaining for those people to be able to even fathom maybe….
August 4th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Are you sure it wasn’t curry sauce?
September 12th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
it is unbelievable literature.but what if panspermia can be dangerous, needs to study more about it .that will be future of evolution .
June 16th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I know God, and he is ugly, horrible, evil and nothing but a nuisance to this world. If God wasn’t in on it, free will would have it’s way. I hate God. In fact, I hate myself