It is in the form of dust. Corkscrew-shaped particles of interstellar dust. Yes, intriguing new evidence of life-like structures that form from inorganic substances in space has been revealed in the New Journal of Physics. The findings hint at the possibility that life beyond earth may not be carbon-based molecules as its building blocks. These new findings also give a new explanation for the origin of life on earth.

Life on earth is composed of organic molecules, compounds of carbon. The idea that particles of inorganic dust may take on a life of their own is nothing short of alien and sounds a lot like science fiction. The international research team that discovered this new life form found that under the right conditions, particles of inorganic dust can become organized into helical structures. These structures can then interact with each other in ways that are usually associated with organic compounds and life itself.

These microscopic strands of solid particles that twist into corkscrew shapes, or helical structures are electronically charged and attracted to each other. Quite bizarrely, not only do these helical strands interact in a counter intuitive way, in which like can attract like, they also interact to induce changes in their neighbors and can even evolve into yet more structures as less stable ones break down, leaving behind only the fittest structures in the plasma. So, could helical clusters formed from interstellar dust be somehow alive? According to this scientist, these complex, self-organized plasma structures exhibit all the necessary properties to qualify them as inorganic living matter; they are autonomous, they reproduce and they evolve. Plasma conditions needed to form these helical structures are common in outer space. However, plasmas can also form under more down to earth conditions such as the point of a lightning strike. The researchers hint that perhaps an inorganic form of life emerged on the primordial earth, which then acted as the template for the more familiar organic molecules we know today.

"Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group. Initially our loyalties were to ourselves and our immediate family, next, to bands of wandering hunter-gatherers, then to tribes, small settlements, city-states, nations. We have broadened the circle of those we love. We have now organized what are modestly described as super-powers, which include groups of people from divergent ethnic and cultural backgrounds working in some sense together--surely a humanizing and character building experience. If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth. Many of those who run the nations will find this idea unpleasant. They will fear the loss of power. We will hear much about treason and disloyalty. Rich nation-states will have to share their wealth with poor ones. But the choice, as H. G. Wells once said in a different context, is clearly the universe or nothing."

Carl Segan