New research released on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, suggests comets almost certainly did not bring the chemical building blocks of life to Earth.
The origin of life on Earth remains a mystery, and scientists have long wondered whether comets delivered complex organic molecules. Planetary scientist Richard Anslow of the University of Cambridge led research using computer modeling of comet orbits and impacts. The team concluded that comets travel too fast and enter at too sharp an angle, so complex organic molecules are mostly vaporized on impact. Anslow called the old comet idea kind of romantic, but said the results make it highly unlikely. The team did not rule out every possibility, but said a surviving impact would be a rare one-in-a-million event at best.