Asteroid Chemistry Reveals Earth’s Secret Ingredient for Life

Zinc in meteorites reveals Earth’s essential volatiles came from unmelted asteroids, crucial for life. This insight may guide the search for life on other planets.

Researchers have analyzed the chemical signatures of zinc in meteorites to trace the origin of Earth’s volatile elements. Their findings indicate that without contributions from ‘unmelted’ asteroids, Earth might have lacked sufficient volatile compounds for life to arise.

Volatiles are elements or compounds that change into vapor at relatively low temperatures. They include the six most common elements found in living organisms, as well as water. The zinc found in meteorites has a unique composition, which can be used to identify the sources of Earth’s volatiles.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and

But not all planetesimals are made equal. The earliest planetesimals that formed in the Solar System were exposed to high levels of radioactivity, which caused them to melt and lose their volatiles. But some planetesimals formed after these sources of radioactivity were mostly extinct, which helped them survive the melting process and preserved more of their volatiles.

Study on Zinc Composition in Meteorites

In a study published in the journal DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ado4121