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Language: en
how did life originate on earth science
may be getting closer to providing an
answer in January 2025 researchers
announced the discovery of organic
molecules the building blocks of life in
samples retrieved from a distant
asteroid it's profoundly exciting this
is really eye openening to me it was a
dream come true all of those years
decades of planning implementing and
ultimately delivering a sample back to
the Earth have paid off
the samples were first retrieved in 2020
during NASA's Osiris Rex Mission the
spacecraft traveled 1.2 billion miles to
an asteroid called benu and briefly
touched its surface to gather samples of
rocks and
dust a capsule containing the samples
returned to Earth in 2023 safely Landing
in a Utah desert and it was like seeing
an old friend that had gone away 7 years
ago come back a little bit rough and
worse for wear but carrying this amazing
treasure from outer space analyzing the
samples researchers have discovered
thousands of different kinds of organic
molecules molecules that generally
contain both carbon and hydrogen
including 14 types of amino acids that
cells on Earth used to build proteins
and the four nucleobases found in DNA
you know those G's C's A's and T's Plus
in addition nucleobase we see in RNA
with the Osiris Rex results we see that
we have these building blocks that's
very exciting scientists have been
analyzing meteorites which are fragments
of asteroids that land on the surface of
the Earth looking for these compounds
for decades now and we found them we
have found amino acids in meteorites
hints of nucleobases the genetic code
letters but the results were always
suspect because we know that as soon as
a meteorite lands on Earth it gets
contaminated
so you can never prove it you can never
prove that these molecules came from
outer space and that is why we had to go
and get it straight from the source
itself but how could there be organic
materials on an
asteroid research suggests that benu now
only a third of a mile wide May once
have been part of a much larger object
possibly more than 100 m wide in The
Frigid reaches of the outer solar system
where Ben's parent body is suspected to
have formed it would have received very
little heat from the Sun but scientists
think that its interior could have
remained relatively warm possibly
between 68 and 84° F thanks in part to
an ongoing decay of radioactive elements
inside we're learning that water is and
has been very abundant in the solar
system so deep in the parent asteroid
water ice could have melted into a salty
brine over time allowing compounds like
like ammonia falah and other molecules
to react to form organic molecules like
amino acids and nucleobases so by
analyzing structures at the minuscule
level the molecular level we can piece
together this grandio story of a
water-rich maybe ocean world forming out
Beyond Saturn and over billions of years
migrating into Inner Space getting
shattered producing the fragments that
went into create benu you can glean so
much from the chemistry how this all
relates back to the origin story
scientists believe these findings could
help explain how life may have developed
in our solar system as well as give us
clues about life's prospects elsewhere
the prospects for life I'd say
throughout the Universe are really
exciting and really good because there
are so many places where it looks like
you might have all of the right
ingredients and it's just a matter of
what it takes to put them together and
what we're seeing is the molecule that
make up the most fundamental structures
in biology proteins nucleic acids the
genetic code they're common they seem to
be everywhere in the early solar system
and these carbon-rich asteroids
delivered them not only to the early
Earth but to Venus and to Mars to the
moons of Jupiter and Saturn and Beyond
so we don't know if there's life in any
of those locations although we've got
tantalizing clues that there might be
underneath the surface of Mars in the
Deep oceans of of Europa and Enceladus
these icy satellites of the outer solar
system and at least we know they had a
chance they got the basic building
blocks what we don't understand yet and
I think one of the greatest mysteries in
science is how do you take that
menagerie of molecules and turn it into
something that's
alive researchers will continue to study
the benu samples trying to uncover
further secrets of life's early remnants
what's even more exciting is we're
really just getting started this is the
first Suite of organic analyses we
brought back a lot of material and
there's a lot more exciting results to
come I think we need many different
kinds of studies to answer the question
about what's going on for the origin of
the solar system the origin of life I'm
sure that there's a role for additional
sample return
missions I think an interesting question
would be which Target would you go to
for the next one it is really exciting
to think about what we'll find because
whether we find that we're alone or that
we aren't right it's really profound
either way and I think we always get
really hung up on the we must find life
but if we don't find life and we're
finding the ingredients for it
everywhere that's also a really
interesting question everything in the
solar system connects to the question of
life is just a question of degree and
that's a very exciting thing
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