Meteor strikes may have done more than reshape Earth's surface. New research suggests they could have created the hot, chemically rich environments needed for life to begin.

"No one knows, from a scientific perspective, how life could have been formed from an early Earth that had no life," said Shea Cinquemani, who earned her bachelor's degree in marine biology and fisheries management from the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences in May 2025. "How does something come from nothing?"

Cinquemani led a scientific review published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering that explores where life may have first emerged. The study focuses on hydrothermal vents, where heated, mineral-laden water moves through rock and into surrounding water, creating the right energy and chemistry for complex reactions.

Her analysis highlights hydrothermal systems formed by meteor impacts as an overlooked but potentially important setting for life's beginnings. These environments may have been widespread on early Earth, making them strong candidates for where life first took hold.

>From Class Project to Scientific Publication>

The study, co-authored with Rutgers oceanographer Richard Lutz, stands out because Cinquemani began the work as an undergraduate assignment that later became a peer-reviewed publication.

"It's amazing," Lutz said. "You often have undergraduates that are part of papers - faculty choose undergraduates all the time to work on papers and projects. But for an undergraduate to be the lead author is a huge deal."

The project began during Cinquemani's senior year in a course called "Hydrothermal Vents," taught by Lutz, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences. Her initial task was to explore whether hydrothermal vents on Mars could have supported life.