A PBS production, this three part series on YouTube (Part 1), IMO, is a good presentation of the idea.

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"Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the greater view?" - Hugo

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Churchill

To me, 'Panspermia' sounds like the name of a very naughty airlne.

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Angel of the Abyss
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"I am Ripper...Tearer...Slasher...Gouger. I am the Teeth in the Darkness, the Talons in the Night. Mine is Strength...and Lust...and Power! I AM BEOWULF!"

To me, it could sound like yet another Greek myth...


Did you watch the video?

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"Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the greater view?" - Hugo

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Churchill

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*

The theory of life's building blocks coming from space debris is possible. But I'm not certain how such materials could survive the trauma of entry into our atmosphere.

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Angel of the Abyss
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"I am Ripper...Tearer...Slasher...Gouger. I am the Teeth in the Darkness, the Talons in the Night. Mine is Strength...and Lust...and Power! I AM BEOWULF!"

Like Mr. G. Od , all this does is push the question back. That is my opinion anyway.

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"Where did the first rose come from?"
"Well we didn't have time for it to evolve here, so it came from that garden over there."
"But then where did that garden come from?"
"..."

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"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky

Exactly, it just pushes it into the unknowable. We don't know anything about this hypothetical planet we allegedly panspermia-ed from.

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It's speculative, but that's all it is.

The video was decent, though. Good filming, and wasn't entirely too light on the facts.

But it's still speculative in it's conclusion. Panspermia is possible, but it's requiring key bits of evidence. For example:

1) What evidence is there of bacterial life from outside of Earth? As in, we haven't even found evidence that there is bacterial life outside of Earth. I'm not saying that it's not possible (even probable) that it does exist somewhere -- of course I think that it exists somewhere. The question is, without even evidence of outside bacteria, how can we draw a probable conclusion that life here came from outside?

2) What about the possibility of abiogenesis? As far as I understand it, it was proven that basic enzymes could be created in many different conditions with the right recipe. As far as I know, Abiogenesis has not been suitably disproven as an alternative theory, and Panspermia hasn't offered much to replace it as a theory.

3) What evidence is there that any of this bacteria hit the earth in the first place?

4) What planet could this bacteria have potentially come from? What direction?

There seems to be no real evidence at all.

However, the idea of bacteria surviving entry into the atmosphere I don't think is necessarily impossible. Ships carry living bacteria with them all the time into space. So there is the slight possibility -- but the question is, what makes the theory probable?

A good idea. But nothing conclusive.

((NOTE: I didn't purview the video fully; I may have missed a few points that may apply to the above. If so, please point them out, including the time on the video.))

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"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right." -- Thomas Paine

Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor. -- Heinlein

Creationists make it sound as though a "theory" is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night. -- Isaac Asimov

Yes, there is no evidence of any sort of life outside of Earth. BUT there is evidence of the building blocks - carbon, molecules, atoms stringing together, etc. - throughout space.

"Panspermia" is actually kind of a given. We are originally from space. This solar system is made up of a cloud of H/He gas interlaced with a bunch of space debris. Fortunately, we got a very diverse set of element and molecular building blocks, which is all you need for some sort of auto-catalysis to naturally occur, according to Stuart Kauffman's research, and given some number of million years, you're off to the races.

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Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

Yes, everything in the universe is thanks to the basic building blocks of the stars. Thus, even if you accept Abiogenesis, yes, technically, our ancestors were once inhabitants of stuff that existed outside of the Earth's atmosphere.

However, I thought Panspermia had nothing to do with "technically" being the children of stars, but instead being a "seeded" planet with already-developed biological material from another planet?

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"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right." -- Thomas Paine

Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor. -- Heinlein

Creationists make it sound as though a "theory" is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night. -- Isaac Asimov

Perhaps you're right. I just got carried away.

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Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

Doesn't panspermia still require abiogenesis, since the chain had to start somewhere?

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"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky

It can, and that is what irritates me about it. Like I said, it pushes the question back, without answering the question. Annoying, to put it mildly.

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Hi saraongsong.

So I take it you'd rather if I'd have used "exogenesis" because it makes no predictions about how widespread the seeds of life are?

I personally think the "seeds" are everywhere in the universe, given that physics and chemistry are everywhere the same.

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"Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the greater view?" - Hugo

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Churchill

Hi Abbadon.

Life forms ejected on asteroid impact could survive to reseed Earth according to a study.

It seems if they can survive ejection they can survive insertion.

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"Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the greater view?" - Hugo

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Churchill

Since I'm not a scientist, there's a lmit to how much insight I can offer.

But the term does make me snicker.

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Angel of the Abyss
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"I am Ripper...Tearer...Slasher...Gouger. I am the Teeth in the Darkness, the Talons in the Night. Mine is Strength...and Lust...and Power! I AM BEOWULF!"

Nor am I a scientist, but which term?

panspermia?
ejection?
insertion?

sophomoric?

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"Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the greater view?" - Hugo

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Churchill

"Hey Beavis. He said 'sophomoric'."

"He-he. That was cool."

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Spock Jenkins of the Vulcan Jenkins'.