Recently, however, a remarkable discovery has cast these aerial assaults into a surprising new light — because, as well as destroying life, it now seems that ancient collisions might also have helped create it.

 

In September 2013, a study appeared in the journal Nature Geoscience that set out to test an extraordinary theory regarding life's deep roots. Researchers had previously hypothesized that, through a process known as shock synthesis, the extreme conditions generated by meteorite impacts — specifically ones involving comets — might be able to forge the fundamental chemicals of biology.