At http://phys.org/print284290227.html … researchers from the University of Leeds think they may have solved how objects from space gave rise to life on Earth. Some of the important ingredients may have been in meteorites and cometary dust but it is how they were then transformed into building blocks that has concentrated minds. In a paper in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (March 15th), the key, it is suggested, is chemiosmosis, where one chemical is broken down to reform so as to release energy, and possibly, metabolism.
The same story is at www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2013/04/-extraterrestrial-phosphorus-trigg… … and adds that NASA has announced that Curiosity Rover has found phosphorus on Mars – so were conditions for life on Mars present at one time?