Meteorites' mechanical energy might have created building blocks of life

It is one of the big unsolved mysteries: how did life on Earth start? Researchers in Germany are now arguing that a meteorite impact could have created the molecules that gave life its big break. Their experiments are the first to show that the mechanical energy released during an impact could have transformed simple chemicals into amino acids. There are various theories on how simple chemicals were transformed into amino acids, lipids, carbohydrates and nucleic acids on ancient Earth. These include submarine hydrothermal vents 3.5 billion years ago, or volcanic activity even earlier on, during the chaotic Hadean era.