"In 2023, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission recovered 121.6 grams of material from the asteroid Bennu as it drifted through the solar system. This rocky rubble was found to contain molecules called amino acids, which combine to make proteins that form the basis of all biological life. How these molecules formed on a freezing rock 105 million miles (168 million kilometres) from the sun was a total mystery - until now."
"Previously, scientists thought that amino acids could only form through a process involving liquid water and relatively warm conditions. However, scientists from Pennsylvania State University discovered that these amino acids actually formed in the cold, radioactive environment of the early universe. This discovery hints that the basic ingredients of life on Earth could have been delivered by a frozen asteroid just like Bennu."
OSIRIS-REx returned 121.6 grams of material from asteroid Bennu. The returned samples contained sugars, a gum-like organic substance, and a suite of amino acids that form proteins. Analyses emphasized glycine, the simplest amino acid, because it can combine to form more complex amino acids and proteins. Laboratory and isotopic evidence indicate that these amino acids formed on a freezing, radioactive asteroid rather than requiring liquid water and warm conditions. The results imply that amino acid synthesis can occur in diverse environments and that frozen asteroids like Bennu could have delivered the basic ingredients of life to early Earth.
Read at Mail Online
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]