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NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission teases new insights on how life began


NASA and its partners have published the first wave of information about the samples collected in the OSIRIS-REx mission.

Asteroids can act as time capsules, and Bennu reflects what was happening in the solar system roughly 4.5 billion years ago. One paper about Bennu, appearing in the journal Nature Astronomy, revealed that the samples contained 14 amino acids and five nucleobases also found in life forms on Earth. They also uncovered high levels of ammonia in the Bennu samples, as well as formaldehyde; when those two combine in the proper conditions, they can form complex molecules such as amino acids.

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