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“Scientists have previously found nucleobases and vitamins in certain carbon-rich meteorites, but there was always the question of contamination by exposure to
by DoreenMichele 4y ago
“Scientists have previously found nucleobases and vitamins in certain carbon-rich meteorites, but there was always the question of contamination by exposure to the Earth’s environment,” said lead study author Yasuhiro Oba, associate professor at Hokkaido University in Japan, in a statement. “Since the Hayabusa2 spacecraft collected two samples directly from asteroid Ryugu and delivered them to Earth in sealed capsules, contamination can be ruled out.”
In other words, there is a history of finding similar compounds on meteorites but under circumstances that made it iffy, at best, to assert these compounds came from space. In spite of debate in comments on HN, this sample constitutes stronger support than we previously had for the idea that these compounds really exist on meteorites in space.
- ianai 4y agoThe thing I was hoping to see in the comments is discussion around the complexity of these compounds and thus how likely they are to form abiotic. Looking at vitamin b3, it seems very simple. My take away is more that the chemistry of life as we know it is pretty prevalent and probably forms readily under many circumstances. I am not shocked this wasn’t an actual DNA strand. Even if someone left some DNA out on an asteroid over enough time I expect it would deteriorate. The universe just bombards stuff without an atmosphere too much for naked DNA to survive in those conditions. This is basically the biggest success I could rationally hope for from this probe. Great work for those scientists and I am so amazed!