Did Life on Earth Come from Space?

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE ↓ More info below ↓ Check out the new Space Time Merch Store! https://pbsspacetime.com/ How did life on Earth get started? Did life on Earth originate on another planet? Either Mars, or in a distant solar system? Could Earth life have spread to have seeded life elsewhere? Let’s see what modern science has to say about the plausibility of panspermia. You can further support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Tweet at us! @pbsspacetime Facebook: facebook.com/pbsspacetime Email us! pbsspacetime [at] gmail [dot] com Comment on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/pbsspacetime Help translate our videos! https://www.youtube.com/timedtext_cs_... Previous Episode: Oumuamua Is Not Aliens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wICOlaQOpM0&t=455s Hosted by Matt O Dowd Written by Matt O Dowd Graphics by Luke Maroldi Assistant Editing and Sound Design by Mike Petrow Made by Kornhaber Brown (www.kornhaberbrown.com) Life existing on Earth is odd. The oldest fossils are now dated to only a few hundred million years after the moment Earth first became habitable. Is it really reasonable to imagine that evolution turned an unliving chemical soup into the first true living cells in that geological eye-blink? Well, maybe. But the discovery of the early appearance of life on Earth was definitely a big “huh, that’s weird” moment. And it’s inspired some creative thinking. For example, what if the first genesis of life – abiogenesis – is actually incredibly unlikely – so unlikely that it only happened once in the entire galaxy. And that “once” was not on Earth. What if primitive life arrived on Earth after having traveled vast distances across the Milky Way. Some scientists think this is the case. This is the Panspermia hypothesis. Special thanks to our Patreon Big Bang, Quasar and Hypernova Supporters: Big Bang David Nicklas CoolAsCats Anton Lifshits Fabrice Eap Justin Lloyd Juan Benet Richard Senegor Shane Robinson Antonio Park Faisal Saud William James Sidis Quasar Tambe Barsbay Mark Rosenthal Mayank M, Methrotra Dean Fuqua ColeslawPurdie Joel Brinton James Flowers Vinnie Falco Josh Hypernova Chuck Zegar Jordan Young Joseph Salomone John Hofmann Martha Hunt Eugene Lawson Barry Hatfield Brent Mullins Danton B Spivey Science Via Markets Matthew O’Connor Ratfeast Brent Mullins Mark Heising Donal Botkin Shaun Williams Edmund Fokschaner Max Levine Vitaly Kovalenko Thanks to our Patreon Gamma Ray Burst Supporters: Alexander Rodriguez Alex Soto Alexey Eromenko Antonio Ruiz Brandon Cook Brandon Labonte Carlo Mogavero Conor Dillon Daniel Lyons David Crane David Matteson Dustan Jones Florian Stinglmayr Fabian Olesen Fauzan Ardhana Greg Allen Greg Weiss Jack Frosch James Hughes JJ Bagnell Jessica F Jinal Doshi Jon Folks John Pettit Joseph Emison Josh Thomas Kenneth F Leonard Kirk Mathews Loro Lukic Kevin Warne Malte Ubl Marc Lagarde Mark Vasile Nathan Leniz Nathan Hitchings Nicholas Rose Nick Virtue Peeter Durocher Scott Gossett Shannan Catalano Shawn Azman Tim Stephani Tommy Mogensen سلطان الخليفي