Recent analysis of space dust has shown that Amino acids and DNA components are common. These two compounds are essentially the building blocks for life and this discovery raises the prospect that life may be far more widespread than once thought.
Previously I talked about water being widely available and with that the chance of the right conditions for life being equally available. Now we see that the chemistry is “out there” too. It seems that the processes in the universe all lean towards the production of life. This may or may not be intelligent, but if the general conditions and chemistry are common then the chances of intelligence increase dramatically.
Once we finally manage to visit other stars and planets, I think we’ll find that life is ubiquitous and if that’s the case then intelligence will be close on its heels.
This discovery also lends weight to the idea that life here on Earth was seeded by such compounds falling to the planet in its early existence. Certainly from what we know these compounds appeared on our planet at a very early point in its formation; a process that could have been greatly accelerated if such building blocks were delivered from extraterrestrial sources.
The young Earth was also subject to a large scale cometary bombardment that brought water and it’s not inconceivable that Amino acids and DNA fragments could also have been delivered in this way.
It’s interesting to think that right here on Earth, we could be the “aliens.”
