NASA's asteroid sample reveals key chemistry that could lead to life
Scientists poring over a sample brought back from the asteroid Bennu have detected amino acids and complex mineral compounds, ...
NASA's Bennu samples contain life's building blocks, including amino acids and DNA/RNA nucleobases
Samples contain all five nucleobases of DNA and RNA, supporting theory that asteroids may have seeded Earth with life's ...
Space on MSN2d
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 ...
Smithsonian Magazine on MSN2d
Scientists Discover Traces of Salt Water and Building Blocks of Life in NASA’s Samples From the Asteroid Bennu
Two new papers describe hints to a brine-filled environment on the 4.5-billion-year-old space rock and the presence of amino ...
NASA finds building blocks for life in the Bennu asteroid sample
Scientists from NASA and other institutions who have been analyzing the Bennu asteroid sample that returned to Earth last ...
Nature8mon
Protein Structure
Several other amino acids have side chains with positive or negative charges, while others have polar but uncharged side chains. The chemistry of amino acid side chains is critical to protein ...
Lurking Inside an Asteroid: Life’s Ingredients
Scientists studying samples that NASA collected from the asteroid Bennu found a wide assortment of organic molecules that ...
Building blocks of life found in samples from asteroid Bennu
Rock and dust samples retrieved by NASA from the asteroid Bennu exhibit some of the chemical building blocks of life, ...
C&EN2d
Compounds critical to life found on ancient asteroid
The minerals McCoy’s team identified paint a picture of one possible environment present on rocky celestial bodies 4.5 ...