PANSPERMIA

● A theory argues that life is originated in space, in spatial ices, and continuously
distributed to the planets by comets and meteorites. This theory is also states
that the life didn’t start here at all, but was brought here in the form of germs.
● There are also speculations about the origins of life on Earth have existed since
the dawn of civilization.
● the theory or process whereby microbes in space transmit life to habitable
bodies.
● Literally or can be said as, "seeds everywhere." Its earliest recorded advocate
was the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras, who influenced Socrates. After all that in
the first decade of the twentieth century, Swedish chemist and Nobel laureate
Svante Arrhenius theorized that bacterial spores, propelled through space by
light pressure, were the seeds of life on Earth.

The picture shows that a meteorite coming from outer space, about to crash the earth. But, before it crashed, the
meteorite had pukaryotes in it, that causes it to go onto earth, and starts life

● There are lots of theories in this topic….

● Starting in the 1970s, British astronomers Fred Hoyle and Chandra
Wickramasinghe rekindled interest in panspermia. By careful spectroscopic
observation and analysis of light from distant stars they found new evidence,
traces of life, in the intervening dust. One aspect of this research program, that
interstellar dust and comets contain organic compounds, has been pursued by
others as well. It is now widely accepted that space contains the "ingredients" of
life. This development could be the first hint of a huge paradigm shift. But
mainstream science has not accepted the premise of modern panspermia, that
whole cells seeded life on Earth.
● Hoyle and Wickramasinghe also broadened or generalized panspermia to
include a new understanding of evolution. While accepting the fact that life on
Earth evolved over the course of about four billion years, they say that the
genetic programs for higher evolution cannot be explained by random mutation
and recombination among genes for single-celled organisms, even in that long a
time: the programs must come from somewhere beyond Earth. In a nutshell, their
 theory holds that all of life comes from space. It incorporates the original
panspermia much as the general theory incorporates the special theory of
relativity.
● Mechanisms for panspermia include the deflection of interstellar dust by solar
radiation pressure and extremophile microorganisms traveling through space
within an asteroid, meteorite or comet.
Three popular variations of the panspermia hypothesis are:
● Lithopanspermia (interstellar panspermia) - impact-expelled rocks from a planet's
surface serve as transfer vehicles for spreading biological material from one solar
system to another.
● Ballistic panspermia (interplanetary panspermia) - impact-expelled rocks from a
planet's surface serve as transfer vehicles for spreading biological material from
one planet to another within the same solar system
● Directed panspermia - the intentional spreading of the seeds of life to other
planets by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, or the intentional spreading of
the seeds of life from Earth to other planets by humans

● Panspermia does not provide an explanation for evolution or attempt pinpoint the
origin of life in the Universe, but it does attempt to solve the mysteries of the
origin of life on Earth and the transfer of life throughout the Universe.
● There are a lot of evidence that supports this theory. For instance, on 24
November 1995: The New York Times described bacteria can survive radiation
stronger than any that Earth has ever experienced. On the 19th of March 1999:
NASA scientists announced that two more meteorites hold even stronger
fossilized evidence of past life on Mars. October 2000, a team of biologists and a
geologist announced the revival of bacteria that are 250 million years old,
strengthening that case that bacterial spores can be immortal.

HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT
Svante Arrhenius Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius
was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. He is the one who
proposed the theory of panspermia. He believed that life on Earth was brought here in a
meteorite, but the theory never became popular, because it seemed to raise more
problems that it solved.
Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) was a big part of the Panspermia Theory development, and
added more to the theory. He was born in Gilstead, Bingley, West Yorkshire in 1915.
"He was a Professor at Cambridge 1957 – 1972 and founder/director of the Institute of
Theoretical Astronomy in Cambridge 1967-1972."One of the scientists that planned and
built a telescope called " Anglo-Australian" . Hoyle also wrote popular science and
science fiction books, plays, television stories, and opera shows. Most importantly, he
believed that the Panspermia theory didn't only explain how life formed on Earth, but
proposed that the Panspermia Theory process continued to bring other forms of life to
Earth.

IMPORTANCE
This theory is important because it explains how life began. The Panspermia Theory is
a theory that most people think is most accurate to how life began. Imagine tiny
microscopic specks of life, on your computer screen, in the dirt, inside deep ocean
trenches--everywhere. Sometimes, they seem so vulnerable and insignificant, yet
precisely the opposite is true. Microbiota may have had an ecological role larger than
even the most devoted early microbiologist could have realized. They may have seeded
life itself across space. Even though no one knows for sure,how life began, this theory
kinds of help you get a clearer understanding.

In conclusion, the Panspermia Theory is possibily the most supported theory, that also
has a lot of evidence to support it. However the Panspermia Theory isn't the only theory
of how life started. Just like every other theory, it is just an highly educated, with
evidence, guess of how life started.

References:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/panspermia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia
https://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/postcards-from-the-universe/
life_traveling_in_space_a/
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019asbi.book..419K/abstract
https://www.panspermia-theory.com/
https://www.panspermia.org/intro.htm