1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:08,920 Speaker 1: brain Stuff. I'm Lauren Vogel Bom and today's episode as 3 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:12,280 Speaker 1: a classic from the archives. Some of our episodes deal 4 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: with incredibly mundane topics, how everyday objects are made, or 5 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: the history behind some specific law or tradition, and I 6 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: like those, but I also like this one because the 7 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:27,800 Speaker 1: question asks is a little bit better. How did life 8 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 1: on Earth begin? Could it have come from beyond the stars? 9 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,280 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogel bomb Here, imagine a comet 10 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 1: hurtling through the nothingness of space. It smashes into a planet, 11 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 1: causing destruction, but also bringing life. That's because hitching a 12 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 1: ride on the surface of the comet were tiny traces 13 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:51,240 Speaker 1: of organic material or even alien eggs, explaining how life 14 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: could spread across the cosmos and derive on our planet. 15 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: Pants Bermia, meaning seeds Everywhere, is the name of the 16 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 1: theory that life on Earth may have of cosmic origins, 17 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,319 Speaker 1: and it's been both debated by scientists and featured in 18 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:07,759 Speaker 1: works of science fiction. Now, a group of nearly three 19 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,560 Speaker 1: dozen scientists from around the world are putting a tweak 20 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: in the theory, suggesting not that Earth's earliest life had 21 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: outer space origins, but that pan spermia may be responsible 22 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: for the Cambrian explosion. That's a point in Earth's history, 23 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: approximately four hundred and fifty one million years ago when 24 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: most major animal groups appear in the fossil record. In 25 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:32,319 Speaker 1: their article cause of Cambrian Explosion Terrestrial or Cosmic, published 26 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: in eighteen issue of the journal Progress in Biophysics and 27 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: Molecular Biology, thirty three scientists tie the rise of unique 28 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:43,679 Speaker 1: animals tartegrades, octopuses, and the bevy of other odd and 29 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: unique animals that flourished at that time to pan spermia, 30 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 1: suggesting that many of these relatively bizarre and never before 31 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: seeing creatures descend from organic alien material. The author's right, 32 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: it takes little imagination to consider that the Precambrian Massi 33 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: state auction event was correlated with the impact of a 34 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: giant lifebearing comet and the subsequent seating of Earth with 35 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: new cosmic derived cellular organisms and viral genes. But we 36 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: haven't cracked the mystery of life's origins just yet. This 37 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:16,760 Speaker 1: new paper isn't built on any new discoveries or research. 38 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: It's a literature review that, for the most part, references 39 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: the author's own existing work, but that's by design. The 40 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:26,840 Speaker 1: authors acknowledge. They write, we are acutely aware that mainstream 41 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: thinking on the origin and further evolution of life on 42 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:33,359 Speaker 1: Earth is anchored firmly in the terrestrial paradigm. Our aim 43 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: here is to facilitate further discussion in the biophysical, biomedical, 44 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:41,919 Speaker 1: and evolutionary science communities. Panspermia is at this point only 45 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: a concept, but it dates back well before the last 46 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 1: hundred years or so of modern science fiction. Way back 47 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 1: at the turn of the eighteenth century, French diplomat and 48 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: natural historian Benois de May proposed that life across the 49 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: cosmos could have been seated from space, and a few 50 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:01,399 Speaker 1: scholars even interpret ancient Greek philosopher and Xagorus of Clazomenas 51 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: musings along the same lines. He spoke vaguely of cosmic 52 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:08,440 Speaker 1: seeds two thousand, five hundred years ago. The paper has 53 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:13,000 Speaker 1: already drawn skepticism. Astrobiologist Francis Westall, for instance, points out 54 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: that while some forms of extremophile life have been observed 55 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: surviving in the vacuum of space for short periods of time, 56 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: this new paper suppositions would require eggs, embryos or other 57 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,640 Speaker 1: cells survive thousands of years, if not more, in space. 58 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 1: Westall told NEWSWEK when discussing the paper, Unfortunately, it is 59 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: all too easy to pull information out of the literature 60 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: to support one's hypothesis. Nature is incredible, and I do 61 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: not think it is necessary to call on extraterrestrials to 62 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: explain it. An alternate theory for the Cambrian explosion goes 63 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: by the name Snowball Earth, and it suggests that seven 64 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: and fifteen million years ago our planet became encased in 65 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: ice for a hundred and fifty million years, killing most 66 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,320 Speaker 1: existing life forms, and that a massive thaw allowed for 67 00:03:56,360 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: an explosion of biodiversity. Today's episode is based on the 68 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:08,680 Speaker 1: article panspermia Did alien seeds cause life to explode on Earth? 69 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: On how stuff Works dot Com written by Christopher hassi Otis. 70 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership 71 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 1: with how stuff Works dot Com, and it's produced by 72 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,360 Speaker 1: Tyler Klain. Four more podcasts from my Heart Radio visit 73 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 74 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:23,280 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.