Two mysterious blobs deep inside Earth may hold clues about the origin of life on our planet, new research finds.

Deep beneath Earth's crust, in the mantle, lie two continent-sized blobs. These gigantic "lava puddles" cling to the planet's core, some 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) beneath the surface — and according to current theories of planetary evolution, they shouldn't be there.

Intrigued by the mystery, researchers sought to better understand exactly what these enigmas are and why they exist.

Humans cannot travel to the center of the planet to get a good look at this pair of unusual mantle structures, which are located beneath the Pacific Ocean and the African continent. However, scientists can "see" them by measuring seismic waves that travel through our planet. As these waves tr

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