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Interstellar Seeds could Create Oases of Life

In this theoretical artist's conception of the Milky Way galaxy, transluscent green "bubbles" mark areas where life has spread beyond its home system to create cosmic oases, a process called panspermia. New research suggests that we could detect the pattern of panspermia, if it occurs. Credit: NASA/JPL/R. Hurt

In this theoretical artist’s conception of the Milky Way galaxy, transluscent green “bubbles” mark areas where life has spread beyond its home system to create cosmic oases, a process called panspermia. New research suggests that we could detect the pattern of panspermia, if it occurs. Credit: NASA/JPL/R. Hurt

Astrophysicists now show that if life can travel between the stars ie panspermia it would spread in a characteristic pattern that we could potentially identify. “In our theory clusters of life form, grow, and overlap like bubbles in a pot of boiling water,” says lead author Henry Lin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).

There are two basic ways for life to spread beyond its host star...

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