Contemporary research into panspermia has taken many forms, with scientists across the globe investigating the theory's implications. In 2018, a group of 33 researchers, led by immunologist Edward Steele, proposed that life on Earth might have originated from extraterrestrial sources, brought here by comets and meteorites from a cosmic biosphere. The same year, researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center published a study titled "Galactic Panspermia," suggesting that life or its chemical components could be transferred between solar systems and galaxies through meteoroids or asteroids.
The growing interest in panspermia has led to an increasing number of studies exploring the theory of hitchhiking aliens. As more respectable intellectuals embrace the concept, expect to see more research supporting the idea of life piggybacking on space debris. With new technological advancements and a broader understanding of the cosmos, the panspermia hypothesis might become a critical aspect of understanding life's origins and its potential spread across the universe.