SCIENTISTS have proved for the first time that bacteria can survive in outer space, supporting the theory that life on Earth began with extra-terrestrial microbes. Researchers showed that spores could stay alive when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun if they were protected by particles of clay and red sandstone commonly found in meteorites. The tests, in which spores were released from a Russian satellite, suggest that the 'panspermia' theory that life began elsewhere and was carried to Earth on meteorites is plausible. The hypothesis was first proposed by Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish chemist, in 1903 and was ...