Catch up TV

Episode 21 October 2026

Imagine a time about four billion years ago when the newly formed Earth was a molten, volcanic wasteland, constantly bombarded by colossal asteroids. Asteroids much larger than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. But what if these destructive cosmic impacts were the key to our very existence?\n\nScientists are exploring the deep past embedded in South African and Australian rocks, the surface of the moon, asteroid dust taken from space and ancient impact craters to develop a revolutionary new theory that suggests these violent collisions may have provided the essential ingredients – water, minerals and energy – needed for life to ignite on our planet. Could the very objects once thought to extinguish life have actually sparked it?

Source: BBC 4