A team of researchers studying a volcanic deposit in South Africa's mountains has discovered a rock layer characterised by two "anomalous" signals that have since fuelled fascinating new theories. Scientists have reportedly discovered trace evidence of extraterrestrial organic matter in volcanic sediment from over 3.3 billion years ago in the South Africa's Makhonjwa Mountains. "This is the very first time that we have found actual evidence for extraterrestrial carbon in terrestrial rocks," said enthused astrobiologist Frances Westall from the CNRS Centre for Molecular Biophysics in France, speaking to New Scientist. While studying the Josefsdal Chert volcanic deposit, which is part of the Makhonjwa Mountains region, Frances Westall and her team discovered a 2 mm-thick rock layer characterised by two "anomalous" signals. With the help of data provided by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, the researchers learned that the 3.3 billion-year-old rock contained two types of