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, ...

Samples of Bennu were brought back to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in 2023. Now, a pair of newly published papers ...

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission successfully returned samples ... along with ammonia and nucleobases crucial for DNA and RNA. Despite having the building blocks for life, Bennu did not develop life ...

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returned triumphantly to Earth ... as well as the five nucleobases that make up RNA and DNA. The team also found a surprising amount of ammonia, which reacts with ...

RNA carries genetic information it receives ... ago," said astrobiologist and study co-author Jason Dworkin, the OSIRIS-REx project scientist. The Bennu organic compounds all have been identified ...

Samples contain all five nucleobases of DNA and RNA, supporting theory that asteroids may have seeded Earth with life's essential ingredients.

Rock and dust samples from the Bennu asteroid contain molecules that are the "key to life" on Earth, NASA officials announced on Wednesday.

"It was likely a key chemical building block through the formation of amino acids and nucleobases and, again, the genetic components of DNA and RNA." Perhaps Fox summed it up best: "The OSIRIS REx ...

NASA's asteroid samples contain organic compounds and minerals that may have seeded early Earth with life's building blocks.

This image, taken by NASA's Osiris-Rex probe in December 2018, shows the asteroid Bennu. Scientists have identified 14 of the 20 amino acids used by terrestrial life, as well as the five nucleic acid ...

Dust and other debris would rise into the atmosphere on Bennu striking Earth, blocking out the Sun and cooling the planet to ...