User:Aulses/Panspermia/Bibliography

You will be compiling your bibliography and creating an outline of the changes you will make in this sandbox.

Outline of proposed changes
Beginning with the history section of the existing Wikipedia page for panspermia, I believe this can be developed much more, with lots of contributions coming from the Mitton 2022 paper that discusses the history of the theory. A comprehensive outline and understanding of the history of a disputed theory such as panspermia provides context for why the theory has persisted through the years. In modern times, panspermia is labelled as a fringe theory, and regardless of if it actually is, I think discussing the history of it is important, because as panspermia fell to the wayside, other theories emerged that were more widely accepted.

In the existing overview section, under core requirements, I came to the conclusion that there are more requirements that should be listed. This came mostly from Kamminga 1982, as this paper evaluates the theory and outlines what must be required from other scientific disciples for panspermia to be valid. For example, the theory requires an infinite Universe and that life be ubiquitous throughout. I think these are pretty critical aspects of the theory, and including them also introduces a link to other fields like Cosmology, which is interesting from a history of science point of view.

The next parts of the existing page go on to describe the different sub-types of panspermia. I think generally, the section could use some format modifications for readability arguments. Also, one further type of panspermia, galactic panspermia, is not developed in the article so will also be added. Under pseudo-panspermia, their is a quick mention of organic material delivered via meteorites, but the section is underdeveloped. Adding to it will provide the link between panspermia, and its successor: abiogenesis, which again is interesting for the history of science.

In line with the Tepfer, 2008 page, I will add a section on the proposed vessels for panspermia. For readability sake, this will be included closer to the start of the article, and will outline that plant spores, but mostly bacteria are used in the theory as what transports life between bodies. Including this at the start of the article should help with comprehension as bacteria are an important part of the panspermia theory and should be well developed before further evaluation.

Finally, at the end I will add a section about the modern mathematical treatment of panspermia, in line with the Loeb 2018 paper. There is nothing about the recent work with this theory in the article, so including it keeps the article updated. Additionally, Ginsburg et al provides another avenue to outline pieces of evidence for or against panspermia by discussing their results relating to the flux of objects that can feasibly be captured by a planetary system.