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OSIRIS-REx Finds DNA's Building Blocks in Asteroid Samples

2/1/2025

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Summary

Story summary

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission has made a groundbreaking discovery by returning samples from asteroid Bennu, unveiling 14 amino acids and all five nucleobases vital for DNA. This remarkable evidence hints that asteroids could have been the cosmic messengers delivering life's essential ingredients to Earth, suggesting that the early solar system was ripe with conditions for life.

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Story summary

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission has made a groundbreaking discovery by returning samples from asteroid Bennu, unveiling 14 amino acids and all five nucleobases vital for DNA. This remarkable evidence hints that asteroids could have been the cosmic messengers delivering life's essential ingredients to Earth, suggesting that the early solar system was ripe with conditions for life.