The Why Files: Operation Podcast - 528: We Are the Aliens | Life's Interstellar Journey to Earth: Panspermia

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

Imagine the possibility that life on Earth didn't start here, but arrived from the vastness of space. We explore the captivating concept of panspermia, which suggests microbes traveling across the cosmos could be the ancestors of all life on our planet.  This journey takes us through the scientific arguments supporting this idea, and the skepticism it faces. We'll also discuss how recent discoveries in space exploration and biology are reshaping our understanding of life's origins.  The notion challenges our perspective on humanity's place in the universe. Join us as we navigate this intriguing and potentially revolutionary idea, opening doors to a new understanding of our cosmic neighborhood.

If it's a flat or a squeal, a wobble or peel, your tread's worn down or you need a new wheel, wherever you go, you can get it from our Tread Experts. Until May 30th, purchase four new Michelin passenger or light truck tires and receive up to $70 by prepaid MasterCard. Conditions apply. Details at Michelin.ca. Find a Michelin Tread Experts dealer near you at TreadExperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there at TreadExperts.ca. There are extraterrestrials among us. They landed 4 billion years ago when the Earth was just forming. And they weren't humanoids with tall, slender bodies and dark, almond-shaped eyes.

The aliens were microbes, and they were delivered here. And once these aliens awakened in our mineral-rich world, they multiplied quickly and evolved. If you want to see these aliens for yourself, it's actually pretty easy. Just look in the mirror. 4 billion years ago, the Earth's surface was very different than it is today. No continents existed. The entire planet was covered in ocean, but the waters were shallow, no more than 100 feet deep in most areas. Countless volcanoes covered the globe,

spewing molten rock that would soon form tiny islands. The atmosphere was a heavy shroud of volcanic ash, superheated dust, and toxic gas. This was perfect for the large craft that had just entered Earth's orbit. This craft was on a mission. On the vessel was a cargo chamber filled with row after row of large capsules, each about the size of a car. The capsules contained trillions of prokaryotes.

Prokaryotes are single-celled organisms. They don't even have a nucleus. But these organisms carry something very important in each and every one of them. DNA. There was a loud hiss, a door opened, and a capsule was ejected toward the planet below. The vessel powered up its engines as soon as the payload entered the atmosphere. Moments later, the ship bolted out of the solar system and onto its next destination.

The alien capsule glowed red-hot as it pushed through the Earth's atmosphere. This wasn't a problem, It was designed for this. When the object hit the water, the impact was violent. This was also expected. The capsule opened. Out poured what looked like thousands of glass beads. Each of these beads contained millions of organisms. The ocean water dissolved the beads and released the organisms into the boiling seas.

Most died immediately. This was also expected, but some survived. These pioneering organisms thrived in the depths of the ocean around hydrothermal vents heated by the Earth's core. The organisms adapted, evolved, and diversified. This was the plan. And so the tiny planet Earth began its journey from a barren piece of lifeless rock to a vibrant oasis of life.

The creators knew it would take a few billion years for intelligent life to evolve. This was all encoded in the DNA of those first microorganisms. The DNA was a program. The programmers knew that when their creations were finally ready, they'd decode the program and find a way to call home. There is a growing group of scientists who believe life on Earth began from microbes delivered from space. This theory is called panspermia. Yeah, spermia. Please don't be immature.

In Greek, pan means all and sperma means seed. Gee. Anyway, Svante Arrhenius was a major proponent of this theory. And when it came to biochemistry, he knew what he was talking about. It was 1908 and Arrhenius was a Nobel Prize winning chemist working in Sweden. The accepted theory of life's origin is abiogenesis. This refers to the process where chemical reactions

of inorganic material form organic material, which eventually becomes life. And this happened on earth about 3.5 billion years ago. Arrhenius wasn't buying it. The ancient Greeks had a much simpler theory. They suggested the seeds of life were present everywhere in the universe. And they weren't talking about alien spacecraft dropping probes into primordial seas. They felt that bits of space dust contained seeds of life.

The Greeks and Arrhenius believed that when the space dust arrived on Earth, it brought life with it. Then evolution took over and created millions of new species of plants and animals. But life coming from outer space is tricky. Even in its most basic form, it shouldn't be able to survive the harshness of space. So Arrhenius set to find out. He created extreme environments in a lab. He subjected living microorganisms to deadly cold temperatures near zero Kelvin.

If these microbes were from space, they could handle it. Because nothing else on Earth could handle zero Kelvin. Zero Kelvin may not sound that cold, but it is. We're talking minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit, basically the temperature of deep space. The microorganisms could not survive those temperatures. Arrhenius was disappointed. But then he slowly and carefully applied heat.

Most microbes remained inert, but some, when reheated very carefully, activated again. They were alive. This shouldn't have happened. The ability to survive in minus 450 degree cold was not driven by natural selection in our terrestrial environment. These seem to be the abilities developed on another world. Arrhenius had discovered a new kind of life, which became known as extremophiles. Before Arrhenius, scientists didn't believe life could survive

in Earth's most extreme environments. But as soon as they started looking, they found life was everywhere. Arrhenius had proved that life could survive the extreme cold of space, but what about extreme heat? In 1977, explorers discovered hydrothermal vents. They were on the ocean floor beneath the Galapagos Islands. These were cracks in the Earth's crust, where water, superheated by the planet's core, is released. Since that first discovery, scientists have found these hydrothermal vents all over the world. They're usually in underwater mountain ranges where tectonic plates collide. Now, humans can't survive very long in temperatures over about 122 degrees Fahrenheit.

At that temperature, proteins in our bodies start to melt. Our cells lose their shape. At over 158 degrees, our DNA begins to unravel. Yeah, but nothing loosens up the muscles like a nice fin rub and a nice hot soak. Well, maybe, but the water released at these hydrothermal vents is over 800 degrees. That would kill you, me, anything almost instantly. Yet here's the thing. That water is teeming with life. There are bacteria thriving in water at 220 degrees. Some can even survive in temperatures higher than that.

These are called hypothermophiles. No one knows how their DNA keeps its shape at these extremes, but it does. And as you go deeper into the ocean, life faces another deadly problem. Pressure. We don't really notice it, but our atmosphere is heavy enough to exert pressure on us. When you go underwater, the weight of the water does the same thing. Without protection, the human body can't survive for more than five or six atmospheres of pressure.

But scientists have found organisms that thrive in 300 atmospheres. Pressure doesn't seem to affect them much at all. Now, how about this? There are organisms that can survive in acid, too. pH stands for potential of hydrogen or power of hydrogen. pH ranges from 0 to 14. 7 is neutral. Below 7 is 0 to 14. 7 is neutral. Below 7 is acid, and above 7 is basic or alkaline.

The human body likes a pH of 7, neutral, or maybe slightly above. We go below that, we're in trouble. We don't like acid. Eh, speak for yourself. The pH scale is logarithmic, so a pH level of 6 is 10 times more acidic than neutral. A pH level of 5 is 100 times more acidic, and so on and so on.

Exposure to acid is very bad for humans. It's bad for almost every living thing on Earth. Almost every living thing. There are bacteria that live happily in sulfuric acid with a pH of 0.3. That is 5 million times more acidic than human blood. Even in those extreme conditions, life exists. Now what about oxygen? Before beaming down, it's the first thing you check, right?

Can we breathe out there? If there's no oxygen, the planet's not inhabitable. Life needs oxygen. But not all life. Some microbes called anaerobes convert carbonate, sulfate, or iron into energy. They don't need oxygen at all. So once scientists started looking, they realized extremophile microorganisms do more than exist. They're the most numerous life forms on Earth. But if panspermia is real, these extremophiles would have to withstand a trip through the harshest environment we know, space.

And as soon as we had the technology to get these things into orbit, we did. You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible.

You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth, while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible.

Space is an environment more extreme than anything found on Earth. With no protection from the sun's radiation, temperatures can be over 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Pass into the Earth's shadow, hidden from the sun, suddenly it's minus 148 or lower. If temperature fluctuations don't kill you, radiation will do the trick. Radiation in space is strong enough to damage human cells and destroy DNA molecules. Unless you go into the trick. Radiation in space is strong enough to damage human cells

and destroy DNA molecules. Unless you're going to the moon, then for some reason radiation isn't a problem at all. You're talking about going through the Van Allen Belt? Yes, the Van Allen Belt. You know, the radiation

around the planet that nobody can get through, which is why nobody went to the moon. The Apollo spacecraft traveled through the Van Allen radiation belts at a very high speed

and the particles in the belt are spread very far apart. So the astronauts weren't exposed to much radiation. Oh, what are you doing? Pee off and that's it now? No, I'm just saying. Even more dangerous than radiation is the vacuum itself. There's no atmosphere in space, and with no atmospheric pressure, the liquids in your body boil and vaporize. Saliva, tears, blood. Humans can't survive in space, but there are animals that can. In 2007, the European Space Agency sent 3,000 living tardigrades into orbit for 12 days.

No one expected any to survive. How could they? They would have no shielding from the deadly radiation or the vacuum. Tardigrades are a bit more complex than typical microbes. These are microscopic animals with segmented bodies and eight legs. They're commonly called water bears. Now that's a cute name for what's probably the toughest animal on Earth. Tardigrades can live at temperatures ranging from absolute zero to boiling they can survive pressure six times that

of the ocean's deepest trenches when the orbital mission returned 68 of the tardigrades survived the space vacuum and exposure to cosmic radiation were not a problem for the water bears. Some even went on to reproduce offspring more tolerant to radiation exposure. Lichen is a unique form of life that represents a symbiotic relationship between two organisms, a fungus and photosynthetic bacteria. Other missions prove that lichen can also survive in space. And tardigrades, by the way, are most often found on lichen. Could an asteroid carrying lichen and tardigrades have

seeded life on Earth? Well, it's been proven that they could survive the impact. If certain bacterial spores are shaded from direct sunlight and radiation, as they would be inside a meteor, they can survive in space for years. Yeah, but for bacteria to be transported across space, it would need to survive for millions of years, and that seems unlikely. But in 2020, scientists pulled a piece of sediment from the ocean floor. The rock was 20,000 feet down and over 100 million years old. They put it under a microscope. The rock was full of microbial fossils.

They looked more closely. Those aren't the fossils of microbes. They're actual microbes. 100 million year old microbes, various types of bacteria. They appeared to be in a type of suspended animation. So the scientists wondered if they could... Oh, don't tell me they tried to revive them.

They tried to revive them. Oh, no. They didn't wake up, did they? They woke up. No! What year was this? 2020. In 2020, eggheads are pulling 100 million-year-old bacterias from the bottom of the ocean and waking them up? Hello? Turn on the

news, you morons. Not only did the bacteria wake up, they had a 99.1 success rate and they started multiplying immediately. And there it is. Well, there were about 100 cells per cubic centimeter at the beginning of the experiment. 68 days later, there were a million cells per centimeter. Oh, great. Next thing you know, we'll need two weeks to flatten the curve. Not now. Okay, so this experiment proved that bacteria can survive dormant for long enough to travel to other planets. That was shocking, but we already knew life existed on Earth 100 million years ago. That doesn't prove it came from outer space. Now, mainstream science agrees we are surrounded by creatures that seem alien in their abilities.

But the mainstream view is that life started on Earth from nothing. A. Biogenesis. The earliest evidence of microbial life dates back to 3.5 billion years. At this time, the Earth had oceans of water and plenty of organic matter. This is known as the primordial soup. That soup had all the ingredients of life. Uh, beef stock and mirepoix. Mirepoix?

Carrots, onions, celery. I know what mirepoix is. The ingredients were water, amino acids, organic gases, and some minerals. And that was the prevailing theory for a long time. Before 3.5 billion years ago, there was no way the Earth could support life. The conditions were too harsh. And that was the theory for hundreds of years. But then that theory blew up when they found evidence of life in a rock much, much older.

Earth formed a little over 4.5 billion years ago in the Hadean Eon, named after Hades, the ancient Greek god of hell, because this time in history was hell on Earth. The planet had just started forming from interstellar gas and dust. The crust in the atmosphere didn't exist yet. The Earth was so hot that atmosphere didn't exist yet. The Earth was so hot that rocks couldn't solidify.

This was not a habitable place. So it makes sense the first evidence of life was found in rocks from the second stage of Earth's geological timeline, the Archean Eon. This is when the Earth began to cool, a crust developed, and the oceans formed. The atmosphere was a combination of methane and ammonia, and the sun was only 75% as bright as today, but this was good enough for life to begin.

We know because, amazingly, there are places on Earth where rocks still exist from that time. One of these places is the Isua Greenstone Belt in Greenland. This strip of volcanic rocks dates back 3.8 billion years, and geologists have found direct evidence of life there. Microbial colonies formed about 3.7 billion years ago. Fine, this proves what scientists suspected. Early life began in the Archean Eon, and not before.

But some of the oldest rocks on Earth are found in the Jack Hills in Western Australia. Incredibly, you can stand on rock formed in the Hadean Eon, the time of hell on Earth before life even existed. However, scientists found something surprising when they studied zircon crystals from the area. Zircon is unique among all materials on Earth. Zircon grows in volcanic rock. And although the crystals are thinner than a human hair, they're nearly indestructible. Zircon even outlasts the rocks in which they are originally formed. Researchers have found zircons going back 4.4 billion years,

pretty close to the actual birth of the planet. So the one thing scientists don't expect to find inside a 4.1 billion year old zircon crystal is the sign of life. Except that's exactly what they found. They found biogenic carbon with isotopic signatures matching organic matter. The zircon is 4.1 billion years old. This means life had to develop in the much harsher environment of the Hadean Eon before oceans and a stable atmosphere formed. At the same time, comets and meteors were constantly raining down on the planet. And panspermia says these meteors were bringing life with them.

Lots of life. And for years, the theory of panspermia, that comets were the source of life, was marginalized. It was pseudoscience. The surface of the Earth was too hot. It was molten rock. Life can't survive that.

The conditions that would most likely to have prevailed near the impact-riddled Earth's surface 4.1 to 4.23 billion years ago were too hot even for simple organic molecules to survive, let alone evolve into living complexity. This leaves panspermia as the most plausible valid option for the origin of terrestrial life. The first microbes were most likely delivered to the planet

along with impacting comets and meteorites. But even if comets could somehow land on the Earth while it was forming, it wouldn't matter. Comets are just dirty snowballs, rocks made of ice and dust, maybe mixed with ammonia, methane, and carbon dioxide. There was no way a comet could contain organic material. But eventually we developed the technology to send probes to comets and test their chemical makeup. And then all those wacky pseudoscience panspermia believers,

well, they started looking pretty smart. You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible.

Sir Fred Hoyle was an English astronomer who developed the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis. This theory says that all the elements from which our world is made have been cooked inside stars. Everything from carbon to uranium atoms were generated eons ago from a star's power source, helium. These heavy elements were then blasted into space in great stellar explosions called supernova, where they later solidified into planets,

mountains, humans, and everything. Hoyle is the man who discovered we're all made of stardust. Hoyle was also a believer in the panspermia theory. He was convinced comets had been delivering microorganisms to Earth since its formation. In 1978, he published the book Life Cloud, arguing that comets were the incubators of life and the stork that first carried life to Earth. Now, this was considered a fringe idea, not accepted by mainstream science. Hoyle's stubborn refusal to accept that the origin of life happened on Earth, and instead was delivered by comets, made him an intellectual outlaw in his field.

But then… In 1986, the European Space space agency's jato mission got a probe within 370 miles of haley's comet that probe was able to analyze the chemistry of the comet it was made up of mostly water some carbon monoxide a little bit of ammonia and methane and this was expected but what was unexpected was that the comet also contained hydrogen cyanide, a precursor to amino acids which are necessary to form life. The JADO mission also detected the presence of so-called CHON particles, C-H-O-N, named because they're rich in carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. This was more evidence that comets really were transporting life's ingredients across the stars.

Space agencies worldwide combined for 12 more missions to examine comets up close. They discovered even more complex organic molecules, such as ethanol, forminide, glycolaldehyde, and acetylaldehyde. Hoyle passed away in 2001, but he lived long enough to review the data from those space probes. He knew he was on the right track. Comets delivered the elements necessary for life. If he had lived just three more years, he would have been amazed. In 2004, for the first time in history,

we didn't just pass by a comet, we landed on one. And then the theory of panspermia, which sounds a lot like science fiction, started to sound a lot like science fact. In 2004, the European Space Agency sent the Rosetta probe to visit comet 67P. And this time, it carried a robotic lander that explored the comet's surface. The probe spent 786 days in space and traveled 4.8 billion miles. The mission revealed the comet had primitive water ice formed 4.5 billion years earlier. Comet 67P contained a mix of compounds, including ammonium salts.

Ammonium salts are thought to be one of the precursors to life. They can later form more complex molecules like amino acids. This was an exciting discovery. But then things got even more interesting. Samples of the comet were brought back to Earth and analyzed. Not only did they confirm ammonium salts were present, but they also discovered the presence of the amino acid glycine. Scientists had officially found a fundamental building block of life on a comet. And there are thousands of comets zipping around our solar system. And we now know they contain organic molecules. But thousands of comets doesn't even begin to describe how many objects there are out there. Surrounding our solar system is a vast area called the Oort Cloud.

The Oort Cloud is so large that the outer edge reaches almost a quarter of the way to the nearest star. It's staggeringly big, and it contains trillions of objects. Trillions. And these objects were even more common in the early solar system when they were busy delivering water to create Earth's oceans, and delivering the building blocks of life itself.

The more evidence we collect, the more likely Hoyle's bold theory of panspermia sounds like the truth. But this is accidental panspermia sounds like the truth. But this is accidental panspermia. The more controversial theory is directed panspermia. Directed panspermia suggests that an advanced extraterrestrial civilization purposely seeded life on Earth. And maybe they did.

But it seems as if the aliens had a backup plan in case their first attempt at seeding life on Earth didn't take. So about 540 million years ago, a rock landed on Earth that contained more than a few microbes. The rock contained eggs. Panspermia might not have been a single event 4 billion years ago. Large comets and asteroids only hit the Earth every few million years. But small meteorites hit the Earth by the thousands every year. We've established that life has been on Earth for a long time. And there's debate about whether it began 3 billion years ago or 4 billion years ago.

But there's no debate that something very strange happened on Earth 540 million years ago. The Cambrian Explosion. Before the Cambrian period, life on Earth was microscopic. Single-celled organisms like bacteria were the most common form of life. A few very simple multicellular organisms evolved, but even over a few billion years, life didn't become much more advanced. Then suddenly, boom, the Cambrian explosion. Out of nowhere, there was a rapid increase in the diversity and complexity of life, especially in multicellular organisms. This event drastically altered the course of evolution and shaped the modern biosphere. Now, there are a few theories of why evolution suddenly began escalating.

Aliens. Rising oxygen levels could have allowed for more complex metabolisms. Nope. Or the end of an ice age could have made the oceans more survivable. Nope. But in 2018, a new theory was proposed.

A team of 33 researchers published a paper in a peer-reviewed scientific journal that was interesting. It was titled Cause of the Cambrian Explosion Terrestrial or Cosmic? 540 million years ago meteors landed containing biomatter that was more complex than

microbes or amino acids. These meteors had eggs from a new species frozen in the icy center of the rock. That species exists to this day and is different than any other animal found on Earth. The creature has three hearts, a body that can change its shape, texture, and color at will.

It has the brainpower to use tools. It can easily navigate complex mazes. Now, you've seen this highly adaptable and highly intelligent alien species. The octopus. An octopus has camera-like eyes with an iris, a circular lens, and photoreceptor cells. It has half a billion neurons, more than most other mammals. And unlike other mammals, most octopus neurons lie outside the central brain. Two-thirds of its neurons are in its arms. This results in the arms being able

to act like independent animals. Each arm is capable of touch and taste. They can move separately and can grasp objects even after being severed from the main body. And if an octopus arm is severed, no problem. It grows a new one in its place, completely indistinguishable from the first. These characteristics, the large non-centralized brain, the ability to camouflage itself, and the flexible bodies appeared suddenly on the evolutionary timeline. Now, when scientists examined the genes of the octopus, the true alien nature revealed itself. The octopus genome shows staggering complexity.

It has 33,000 protein-coding genes. That's 10,000 more than humans. Now, the octopus is said to have evolved from nautiloids like clams and oysters, but those are nothing like the octopus at all. This mysterious leap can only be explained by aliens. Yep, extraterrestrial intervention. Exchanges of rock between planets in our own solar system like Earth and Mars is a fact, and quite common.

We've found Mars rocks here, and it's safe to assume there are Earth rocks on Mars. If biomatter hitched a ride on those rocks and the conditions were right, life would evolve. Mars was once very Earth-like, with a stable climate and lots of surface water. If microbes evolved there, they very well could have ended up here.

In 1996, a meteorite from Mars was examined under a microscope. It appeared to contain fossilized microbes. It's a controversial claim, but with what we now know about comets, life on Mars seems very plausible. Today, rock 84001 speaks to us across all those billions of years and millions of miles. It speaks of the possibility of life. If this discovery is confirmed, it will surely be one of the most stunning insights into our universe that science has ever uncovered. Its implications are as far-reaching and awe-inspiring as can be imagined. What? No Clinton joke? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I would never joke about the Clintons. Yeah, but when we're off camera, you joke about the Clintons all the time.

I never joke about the Clintons ever. Uh, you've made quite a few... Can we move on, please? Fine. If life evolved in our solar system, then chances are it's going to be found everywhere where the conditions exist to support it. Mars has water ice and once had a vast ocean just like Earth. Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, has liquid ocean under its icy shell.

Jupiter's gravity causes tidal forces on Europa that create heat. Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, also has a subsurface ocean. Plumes of water vapor and ice particles, including organic compounds, have been detected erupting from cracks in the moon's surface. Titan, another of Saturn's moons, has a dense atmosphere and stable liquid on the surface. Now, it's liquid methane, not water, but life could evolve there. Recent studies show

Venus could support microbial life in the upper layers of its atmosphere. And Ceres, a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, has water ice. And there's evidence of liquid salt water below the surface. And these are places right here in our solar system. But if we look further out, the chances of life increase tremendously. The number of potential Earth-like planets in our solar system. But if we look further out, the chances of life increase tremendously. The number of potential Earth-like planets in our galaxy is about 100 billion. And there are about 100 billion other galaxies out there. So the total number of planets that could support life is incomprehensible. And with all the comets and asteroids flying around our galaxy carrying the seeds of life, panspermia doesn't

sound like pseudoscience in fact life being delivered here via panspermia is the only theory to me that makes sense you searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. Life not arising on Earth, but arriving on Earth.

It's a fascinating theory, but is it true? Well, a couple of factors make seeding life on Earth a challenge. The time required for biologically active rocks to be ejected from a solar system is probably the biggest obstacle. It could take between 4 and 50 million years for rocks to break from a planet and leave the solar system. But if a planet is hit with a big enough object, like the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, it can throw rock into orbit in an instant. In the early solar system, giant impacts like this were happening all the time on every planet. But life finding its way here from another star, that's a long shot. Not impossible, but very difficult. But life finding its way here from Mars or Venus,

that's no problem at all. Another issue though, no matter the distance traveled, the biological matter has to stay viable for the journey, for millions or billions of years. And the size of the rock really matters. We know that bacteria and even more complex forms of life can stay dormant for many years. But that doesn't do you any good if your rock vaporizes when hitting the Earth's atmosphere. You're going to need a pretty big rock to get through. Again, not impossible, but not easy, unless you adopt the theory of direct panspermia, which answers all these concerns. The discovery of the structure of DNA is credited to James Watson and Francis Crick,

so reputable and respected scientists. In 1971, they spoke at a conference on communication with extraterrestrial intelligence organized by Carl Sagan. They claimed organisms were deliberately transmitted directly to the Earth by intelligent beings from another planet. No randomness was involved. The seeds of life made it here because this is where they were sent. Simple enough, but in the end, panspermia means that we're not from here. And you'd think, like the octopus, there'd be evidence within us that maybe the Earth isn't our original home.

Well, Francis Crick actually suggested there is evidence. In 1973, he published a paper with Leslie Orgel, a molecular biologist. The paper was called Directed Panspermia. The paper says that the chemical composition of living organisms, and I quote, must reflect to some extent the composition of the environment in which they evolved. The paper makes the point that human beings have a trace element in their bodies called molybdenum, which is crucial to organic processes. But here's the thing. Molybdenum is pretty rare on Earth.

But you know what's a great source of it? Meteorites. So maybe somewhere out there is our home planet, where molybdenum is plentiful, and the fact that we can survive on Earth makes us another extremophile. The idea that the Earth was seeded with life makes more sense to me than life spontaneously emerging

from organic compounds in a primordial soup. I like the idea of a galaxy teeming with life makes more sense to me than life spontaneously emerging from organic compounds in a primordial soup. I like the idea of a galaxy teeming with life. I like believing that we're not the children of the earth, but the children of the universe. But whether life started here or somewhere far, far away, it did start somewhere. So my question is, who started it? it, like, share, all those buttons really help them out. And like most topics we cover on the channel, today's was recommended by you. So if there's a story you'd like to see or learn more about, go to the Y-Files.com slash tips. And remember, the Y-Files is also a podcast. Twice a week, I post deep dives into the stories we cover here on the channel. I also post episodes that wouldn't be allowed on the channel. Those are called unredacted. The podcast is called the Y-Files Operation Podcast, and it's

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early with no commercials. You get access to merch only available to members. Plus you get two private live streams every week just for you. My camera's on. You get to meet the whole team. You put your camera on. We get to see what you look like. You don't mind showing us that. Anyway, it's a lot of fun, and it's available to members.

Another great way to support the channel is grab something from the Wattfile store. Grab a hecklefish t-shirt or a fistful of coffee mug filled with some coffee or a beverage of your choice or play Go Hecklefish C cards while you're squeezing on one of these squeezy stuffed animal heckle fish squeeze and tugging fish toys and those are the plugs until next time be safe be kind and know that you are appreciated I played Philippians and Area 51 A secret code inside the Bible said I would I love my UFOs and paranormal fun The secret code inside the Bible said I would. I love my UFOs and paranormal fun as well as music.

So I'm singing like I should. But then another conspiracy theory becomes the truth, my friends. And it never ends. No, it never ends No, it never ends I fear the crab cat And I got stuck inside Mel's home With MKUltra Being only too aware Did Stanley Kubrick

Fake the moon landing alone on a film set? Or were the shadow people there? The Roswell aliens just fought the smiling man I'm told and his name was cold And I can't believe I'm dancing with the fishes

Heckle fish on Thursday nights Wednesday day too And the wild boars on the beach all through the night All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth So the wild boars on the beach all through the night The Mothman sightings and the solar storm still come to regard the secret city underground Mysterious number stations, planets are bold too Project Stargate and where the dark watchers found

We're in a simulation, don't you worry though The black knight said a lot, he told me so I can't believe I'm dancing with the fish Heck, no fish on Thursday nights when they chase you And the wild birds are me all through the night All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth So the wild birds are been beat all through the night And the fish on Thursday nights when they chase you

And the wild birds have been beat all through the night All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth So the wild birds have summer beach all through the night Gertie loves to dance Gertie loves to dance Gertie loves to dance Gertie loves to dance Gertie loves to dance

Gertie loves to dance Gertie loves to dance Gertie loves to dance on the dance floor because she is a camel Camels love to dance when the feeling is right on wasting time

Gertie loves to dance Gertie loves to dance Bye.