From Michael Paine, Sydney, Australia
You report suggestions that life may have originated in hydrothermal systems on land (8 August, p 34). This brings to mind earlier research by Pascal Lee and Gordon Osinski, who, among others, have studied the hydrothermal systems at the Haughton impact crater in the Canadian Arctic archipelago. Hydrothermal systems are usually formed in these asteroid impact craters. The asteroid also brings some raw ingredients for life.
So it is possible that researchers John Sutherland and David Deamer may have been talking about the same situation when you reported the following: “Sutherland has developed a scenario involving streams of water running down a meteorite impact crater. Deamer favours geothermal ponds in volcanic settings and is focusing research on these.”
