LIQUID water may have been around since the dawn of the Solar System, raising
the possibility that life could have evolved before the Earth even existed.
James Whitby and his colleagues at the University of Manchester found salt
crystals with water bubbles trapped inside in a meteorite called Zag. Measuring
the relative amounts of xenon and iodine isotopes in the crystals revealed that
they could be some of the oldest materials ever found in the Solar System,
dating from just after its birth 4.57 billion years ago, they say in
Science (vol 288, p 1819). This suggests the young Solar System evolved
much faster than previously thought, with proto-planets forming early on.
鈥淭here was warm salty water in a rocky body鈥攋ust the sort of conditions
in which we think life evolved on Earth,鈥� says Whitby.
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