One theory of how life began on Earth is that asteroids brought microbes and other simple life forms to the planets surface early on. We have gathered evidence of pre-existing life inside asteroids before. The question is, how did asteroids from the belt between Mars and Jupiter have the heat to sustain liquid water and therefor life? This has long been explained by the same radioactive chemical processes that heat Earth’s core. While this is certainly a somewhat prominent factor, models estimate temperatures that do not align with the observed reality.

http://uanews.org/story/asteroid-belt-found-around-vega

Two scientists named Roberge and Menzel were able to reevaluate another theory of how the asteroid got all of the heat that they did at one point before cooling. The alternate theory has to do with the electrical current that is created from the movement of plasma (in the asteroids) through the magnetic field of our solar system. The idea isn’t completely new, but Roberge and Menzel reworked the theory using more modern knowledge of the solar system and were able to create a consistent model. This new theory of what provided the heat to allow asteroids to become habitable changes our understanding of the universe. The calculations require the application of multi fluid magneto-hydrodynamics, which is an extremely narrow field of physics pursued by a very select few people.

Sources:

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “Researchers propose new theory to explain seeds of life in asteroids.” ScienceDaily, 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 2 Oct. 2013.