A closer look
One dazzling idea proposes that life on Earth owes its spark to rocks from the stars. Meteorites that smashed into our young planet carried amino acids—the Lego blocks of proteins—scattering them across early seas. From this cosmic delivery service, the recipe for life may have begun to simmer. It’s a humbling thought: the miracle of your heartbeat could trace back to a random chunk of space rubble. Far from being a neat laboratory experiment, life might have been a glorious chemical accident, written not in a recipe book but in the fiery streak of a falling star.
