Did ingredients for life on Earth come from space?
STORY: Did the ingredients for life on Earth come from space?
Scientists say two key ingredients for life on Earth: uracil and niacin
were detected in rocks retrieved from asteroid Ryugu
The samples were obtained by the Japanese Space Agency's Hayabusa2 spacecraft in 2019
Scientists long have pondered about the conditions necessary for life to arise on Earth
The new findings support the hypothesis that bodies like comets, asteroids and meteorites
that bombarded early Earth billions of years ago
seeded the young planet with compounds that helped pave the way for the first microbes
REUTERS / JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, University of Aizu and AIST / Kyushu University/Hokkaido University/ JAMSTEC / JAXA / ISAS / JAXA