Meteorite clue to life on Earth

A METEORITE that fell in the UK last year holds key information about how oceans – and life – formed on Earth, scientists have said. An analysis of the space rock, which fell on to Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, has revealed it contains 11 per cent water and 2 per cent carbon.

The experts said their findings, published in Science Advances, show that asteroids played a key role in ‘delivering the ingredients needed to kickstart oceans and life’. Dr Luke Daly, of the University of Glasgow, said they give ‘insight into how the Earth came to have water – the source of so much life’.