Cambridge Study Casts Doubt on Comets Seeding Life on Early Earth

Researchers at the University of Cambridge ran computer simulations to test whether comets helped kickstart life's origins on Earth. The simulations suggested that the high-speed collisions involved would likely have destroyed key chemicals, including hydrogen cyanide. Only a small fraction of the runs showed comets successfully delivering these compounds intact. Most impacts during early Earth's history, the study found, would not have carried organic molecules through undamaged. The findings challenge a long-held theory about the cosmic origins of life's building blocks.