Research by Rice University Earth scientists suggests that virtually all of Earth’s life-giving carbon could have come from a collision about 4.4 billion years ago between Earth and an embryonic planet similar to Mercury.
Study: Earth’s carbon points to planetary smashup
![](https://www.sciencecircle.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/0822_SMASH-main2-lg-sgtksg-1024x819.jpg)