NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  1. Special Note


    Ask an Astrobiologist has received nearly a thousand questions about Nibiru and 2012, with more than 200 answers posted. Please read a summary of the answers that have already been posted, use the search feature and read the FAQ’s before submitting questions on these topics.

  1. Question

    What other possible alternative environments are there in which life may have originated?

    No one really knows the environment in which life originated, since there is little if any geological record from the time life began. The most probable environment is probably the classical warm shallow sea that is rich in organic raw material (the "primordial soup"). But other environments that are being considered include the deep subsurface, or hydrothermal vents, or water under a frozen layer of ice, or tidal pools, or shores with breaking waves. I am sorry I can't be more specific, but that is our present state of ignorance about the origin of life.

    David Morrison
    NAI Senior Scientist

    June 10, 2004