A USF researcher is part of a team that determined
life-producing phosphorus was carried to Earth by meteorites.
Scientists may not know for certain whether life exists in
outer space, but new research from a team of scientists led by a University of
South Florida astrobiologist now shows that one key element that produced life
on Earth was carried here on meteorites.
In an article published in the new edition of the
Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, USF Assistant Professor of
Geology Matthew Pasek and researchers from the University of Washington and the
Edinburg Centre for Carbon Innovation, revealed new findings that explain how
the reactive phosphorus that was an essential component for creating the
earliest life forms came to Earth.