Chance, not chants 💫

Although meteorites carry the molecules necessary for life, Pizzarello points out that we still don’t know whether they’re responsible for life on Earth or whether they’re the only cosmic vehicle that brought chiral molecules here. 

Definitive answers will be difficult to obtain, but Cockell believes scientists can chip away at the puzzle by studying how molecules crucial to life form in space and what processes select for chirality. “What other prebiotic secrets are locked up in unknown compounds [in space]?” he wonders.

Regardless of the answer, the study suggests “very deep roots for the chemical evolution that preceded life.” 

The idea that chirality, a predisposition inherent in all life as we know it, either began with or arose from the birth of the Milky Way Galaxy some 13.6 billion years ago delivers a dose of cosmic perspective. As Carl Sagan said, “we’re made of star stuff.”

The findings also hint at the even bigger question of determinism, which is whether physical or chemical laws determine the chirality of life, or whether it’s down to chance.