Medical News
The rock was found in South AfricaRob Crandall / Alamy
By Michael MarshallA thin layer of 3.3 billion-year-old rock contains unexpected treasure: organic matter that was carried to Earth by meteorites when the planet was still young.
The find supports the idea that organic, meaning carbon-based, chemicals from space supplied some of the raw materials for the first life on Earth. It could also complicate the search for life on other planets.
“This is the very first time that we have found actual evidence for extraterrestrial carbon in terrestrial rocks,” says Frances Westall of the CNRS Centre for …