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

Japanese scientists detected all five nucleobases — building blocks of DNA and RNA — in samples returned from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission brought back 121.6 grams of asteroid Bennu,

Scientists have detected organic compounds and minerals necessary for life in the samples collected by the OSIRIS-REx mission from a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu.

Samples returned from an asteroid contain a surprising abundance of the basic ingredients of life. They were discovered to be rich in carbon, nitrogen and ammonia, with over 30 kinds of amino acids and the five nucleobases found in RNA and DNA. 1 The asteroid, Bennu, was targeted by a Nasa mission that returned a capsule to Earth in September 2023.

The building blocks of DNA have been found in samples returned to Earth from an asteroid, suggesting life rained down from space and could have formed elsewhere...

The discovery is a capstone achievement for NASA, which went to great lengths to secure and deliver asteroid samples from asteroid Bennu in 2020.

A recent discovery by NASA showed that a near-Earth asteroid, designated 2024 YR4, can collide on Earth with more than 1% chance. On Dec. 27, 2024, the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Ale

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

Scientists studying samples that NASA collected from the asteroid Bennu found a wide assortment of organic molecules that shed light on how life arose.

Analyzing a sample from an asteroid named Bennu reveals the chemicals necessary to form DNA and RNA.

Scientists said they didn’t find evidence of life on Bennu, but they did find evidence of the building blocks of life.