Three meteorites contain the molecular building blocks of DNA and its cousin RNA, scientists recently discovered. A subset of these building blocks had been detected in meteorites before, but the rest ...

UC Davis researchers have developed a new method that uses light to transform amino acids—the building blocks of ...

Uracil, a building block of life, has been found on the asteroid Ryugu. Yasuhiro Oba and colleagues discovered the precursor to life in samples collected from the asteroid and returned to Earth by ...

The first look at samples returned by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft supports the theory that vital elements for life like amino acids could have been delivered from space. When you purchase through links ...

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Researchers have ...

The first analyses of samples brought back from the asteroid Ryugu show that this space rock contains some of the molecules needed for life. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an ...

Researchers have used the chemical fingerprints of zinc contained in meteorites to determine the origin of volatile elements on Earth. The results suggest that without 'unmelted' asteroids, there may ...

Scientists have taken a big step towards figuring out where building blocks of life such as amino acids and amines form in space. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate ...

There’s certainly nothing living on the asteroid Bennu, an airless, 1,614-ft. rubble pile orbiting the sun about 40.2 million miles from Earth. But that doesn’t mean that Bennu hasn’t all at once ...

This diagram depicts the chemical structure of pyrimidine, a six-membered aromatic ring with two nitrogen atoms at positions 1 and 3 (highlighted in blue). The remaining positions are occupied by ...

WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Rock and dust samples retrieved by NASA from the asteroid Bennu exhibit some of the chemical building blocks of life, according to research that provides some of the ...