Slashdot | Study Puts Hole In Comet Theory Of Life's Origin

A new study by US and Japanese scientists has put a serious dent into one
version of the popular panspermia theory that credits comets for bringing the
seeds of life to Earth. Surveys conducted by the University of Arizona, the
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and others now show that objects
from the main asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars were largely responsible
for the period of Late Heavy Bombardment that ended 3.9 billion years ago. UA
Professor Emeritus Robert Strom believes that no more than 10 percent of the
Earth's water comes from comets and any oceans then extant would have been
'vaporized by the asteroid impacts during the cataclysm.' Interesting,
because this directly contradicts the Nova mini-series Origins that just
finished running on PBS. Science never stops moving.

Links to proper stories are within the text above available from
http://science.slashdot.org/article..../09/17/0652248
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