article_snippet.sent: Life on Earth may have been kickstarted by a series of chemical reactions triggered by two simple but poisonous compounds that were plentiful on our planet four billion years ago.
article_snippet.sent: Chemists findings suggest that the basic components for biological cells could have all occurred simultaneously in primordial ponds and streams, coming together to form the first cells.
article_snippet.sent: This suggests that life may well have first emerged here on Earth - out of a toxic soup of poisonous gas - rather than being carried to our planet by a comet or meteorite from outer space.
article_snippet.sent: But the researchers behind the new study say that meteorite impacts probably still played a key role in giving life a first leg up on the ladder towards existence.
article_snippet.sent: the researchers behind the new study claim that meteorite impacts around four billion years ago - known as the Late Heavy Bombardment - could have carried with the researchers behind the new study carbon rich material that reacted with nitrogen in the air to produce an abundance of hydrogen cyanide.
article_snippet.sent: This poisonous gas could then have dissolved in water and undergone a series of chemical reactions, along with hydrogen sulphide, driven by ultraviolet light.