| UPDATED: 07:28, Wed, Mar 17, 2021 Link copied Sign up for FREE for the biggest new releases, reviews and tech hacks SUBSCRIBE Invalid email When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Groundbreaking new research by geologists at the University of Leeds has found a link between lightning strikes and the origins of life on Earth. Until now, scientists have agreed the key ingredients of life were brought to Earth by meteorites bombarding the planet more than four billion years ago. The newly published research, however, has found some of the same minerals may have been brought down by billions of lightning strikes - and the same may be true for alien life on Earth-like planets far beyond our solar system.