@dw.science: Did life on Earth come from asteroids? How did it begin? Those are still open questions. But new research might shed some light. The first in-depth analysis of samples collected by the OSIRIS-REx mission from the asteroid Bennu found many of the chemical building blocks necessary for life as we know it. 14 of the 20 amino acids used by life forms on Earth were found. Also all five of the nucleotides used to make the information molecules DNA and RNA. Although the OSIRIS-REx mission was not the first to collect and return a sample from an asteroid, it did bring back the largest one so far (121 grams). About as much as a cup of flour. The findings didn’t find life-forms in the samples. But they did show that important components for life were present, and that those chemicals were of extraterrestrial origin. And think about all it took to find this: Getting samples from an asteroid, bringing them back to Earth and into a lab without letting it be contaminated by our atmosphere. That’s next level science.. Author: Esteban Pardo #STEMTok #sciencetok #science #LearnOnTikTok #dwscience

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Thursday 30 January 2025 16:00:35 GMT