NASA finds key molecules for life in OSIRIS-REx asteroid samples. Here's what that means
There are 20 amino acids that create the proteins required for life on our planet — and scientists have now found exactly 14 of them on an asteroid millions of miles away. The asteroid in question, named Bennu, was the focus of a very dreamy NASA mission called OSIRIS-REx that launched in 2016.
Asteroid samples reveals shocking new insight into how life began on Earth!
Pristine samples of the asteroid Bennu transported to Earth contain the "basic building blocks" for life, shedding new light on how life began on our planet.
Asteroid samples hint at how life formed on Earth, researchers say
When asteroids like Bennu hit the young Earth, they could have provided a complete package of complex molecules and the ingredients essential to life, such as water, phosphate and ammonia. Together, these components could have seeded Earth’s initially barren landscape to produce a habitable world.
Asteroid had 'all the stuff' to make life, OSIRIS-REx samples reveal
Bennu samples brought back by a University of Arizona-led space mission contain the key ingredients of life and signs of the stew needed to mix them.
Asteroid Bennu contains the 'seeds of life,' OSIRIS-REx samples reveal
Scientists have found all five nucelobases alongisde minerals essential for life as we know it on the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu.
The ingredients to life on Earth were discovered on a distant asteroid for the first time: NASA
Analysis of debris from the nearly 5 billion-year-old asteroid Bennu suggests the building blocks of DNA and RNA were present in the early days of our solar system.
Bennu asteroid sample holds building blocks for life, researchers say
Researchers say the asteroid Bennu has the building blocks for life on it. The samples collected and returned to Earth were part of the University of Arizona-led OSIRS-REx mission.
NASA scientists find 'ingredients for life' in asteroid sample
Samples of asteroid Bennu contain molecules that suggest the "conditions necessary for life" were widespread across the early solar system, according to NASA.
Asteroid contains building blocks of life, say scientists
Bennu contains minerals and thousands of organic molecules, including the chemical components that make up DNA.
Scientists find traces of life’s building blocks in historic asteroid samples
Acquisition-Mechanism (TAGSAM) head with the lid removed, revealing the remainder of the asteroid sample inside. The picture
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Analysis of OSIRIS-REx Sample Shows Asteroid Bennu Has Ingredients for Life
NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission successfully returned a generous chunk of the ... A similar asteroid that arrived on Earth as a ...
Scientists Just Found DNA’s Building Blocks in Asteroid Bennu – Could This Explain Life’s Origins?
Japanese scientists detected all five nucleobases — building blocks of DNA and RNA — in samples returned from asteroid Bennu ...
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Asteroid Bennu came from a distant, lost world of salty ponds
Asteroid Bennu seems to have come from a long-lost world on the fringes of the solar system, where saltwater pooled and dried ...
New analysis of asteroid dust reveals evidence of salty water in the early Solar System
Two new studies show a briny, carbon-rich environment on the parent body of the Bennu asteroid was suitable for assembling ...