A rock quarried on Orkney was blasted into space to find out if meteorites could carry primitive life from one planet to another.
One theory being tested is whether life could have arrived on Earth from Mars.
University of Aberdeen experts had the rock attached to an unmanned Russian craft and found life would probably only survive in a large meteorite.
More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7056686.stm