homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Could life have hitchhiked to Earth on cosmic dust?

We may all be aliens.

Tibi Puiu
February 19, 2024 @ 10:39 pm

share Share

Cosmic dust seeding life
Credit: DALL-E 3, AI-Generated.

The origins of life remain one of the most intriguing mysteries. Recent research introduces a fascinating possibility: could cosmic dust act as a conduit for life, spreading it from one planet to another across the galaxy?

Cosmic Dust: Spreading Life’s Seeds

Earth’s history tells us a compelling story of life’s resilience and early emergence. Our planet, approximately 4.53 billion years old, shows signs of hosting simple life forms as early as 3.5 billion years ago. This timeline suggests life began shortly after Earth cooled enough to support it.

That’s great news I guess if you’re an Earthling but it also sounds a bit too convenient and maybe even too good to be true. It’s perhaps from this premise that some scientists are increasingly interested in the wild idea — that might not be that wild after all — that just maybe life didn’t appear on Earth in the first place. But how?

One hypothesis that has been gaining traction is panspermia. This captivating hypothesis suggests that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, planetoids, or potentially by spacecraft in the form of unintended contamination by microorganisms.

The core idea behind panspermia is that life, or the precursor complex molecules necessary for life, can survive the harsh conditions of space and can be transported between planets, moons, or even star systems. This transportation could occur through natural celestial events, such as the impact of a comet or asteroid on a planet, which then ejects debris into space that could carry microorganisms to other celestial bodies.

In a new study, scientist Z.N. Osmanov from the Free University of Tbilisi proposes a plausible mechanism by which cosmic dust can become a carrier of life. These particles, once propelled by the radiation pressure of stars, could traverse interstellar space, potentially seeding life on new planets.

Across a galaxy

Here’s a how panspermia scenario could play out: high-altitude dust particles on an Earth-like planet with life collide with cosmic dust, gaining enough momentum to escape the planet’s gravitational pull. Once in space, these particles are pushed by stellar radiation, spreading potentially life-bearing dust throughout the cosmos.

This mechanism opens a new window into understanding how life can travel vast distances, although many challenges would remain such as radiation and the vacuum of space. Osmanov calculated that over billions of years, life-bearing dust could reach millions of star systems from the point of origin, filling the galaxy with the building blocks of life.

“In particular, it has been pointed out that, by means of the solar radiation pressure, small dust grains containing live organisms can travel to the nearest solar system, Alpha Centauri, in nine thousand years,” Osmanov wrote in preprint server arXiv.

Perhaps this is a good time to note that this is all just a hypothesis — and a highly speculative one to boot. But to some degree that can be said about all other theories attempting to explain the origin of life. However, it’s certainly one of the most interesting ideas out of the bunch. It challenges us to rethink the isolation of planetary systems and the possibility of life’s ubiquitous presence across the Milky Way.

share Share

A Dutch 17-Year-Old Forgot His Native Language After Knee Surgery and Spoke Only English Even Though He Had Never Used It Outside School

He experienced foreign language syndrome for about 24 hours, and remembered every single detail of the incident even after recovery.

Your Brain Hits a Metabolic Cliff at 43. Here’s What That Means

This is when brain aging quietly kicks in.

Scientists Just Found a Hidden Battery Life Killer and the Fix Is Shockingly Simple

A simple tweak could dramatically improve the lifespan of Li-ion batteries.

Westerners cheat AI agents while Japanese treat them with respect

Japan’s robots are redefining work, care, and education — with lessons for the world.

Scientists Turn to Smelly Frogs to Fight Superbugs: How Their Slime Might Be the Key to Our Next Antibiotics

Researchers engineer synthetic antibiotics from frog slime that kill deadly bacteria without harming humans.

This Popular Zero-Calorie Sugar Substitute May Be Making You Hungrier, Not Slimmer

Zero-calorie sweeteners might confuse the brain, especially in people with obesity

Any Kind of Exercise, At Any Age, Boosts Your Brain

Even light physical activity can sharpen memory and boost mood across all ages.

A Brain Implant Just Turned a Woman’s Thoughts Into Speech in Near Real Time

This tech restores speech in real time for people who can’t talk, using only brain signals.

Using screens in bed increases insomnia risk by 59% — but social media isn’t the worst offender

Forget blue light, the real reason screens disrupt sleep may be simpler than experts thought.

We Should Start Worrying About Space Piracy. Here's Why This Could be A Big Deal

“We are arguing that it’s already started," say experts.