Meteorites may have delivered that essential ingredient for life to an early Earth

Credit: NASA

Did life on Earth develop from ingredients that came from somewhere else? Researchers have teased ammonia from a carbon-containing meteorite
(PHYSORG)- Researchers have teased ammonia of a carbon-containing meteorite from Antarctica, and propose that meteorites may have delivered that essential ingredient for life to an early Earth.

The results appear today in the , and add to a growing body of evidence that meteorites may have played a key role in the development of life here. The NASA graphic at left was released just last month, when researchers reported that meteorites may have also delivered Earth’s first left-hand amino acids.