Scientists examining samples returned from asteroid Bennu found ribose and glucose inside — and with phosphate and every RNA nucleobase already detected in the same asteroid material, every chemical component needed to build RNA was present in the early solar system, long before life existed on Earth.

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The Bennu sample is becoming less like a single asteroid story and more like a chemistry inventory from the early solar system. The latest result is simple to state, but easy to overread: scientists found ribose and glucose in material returned from Bennu, and ribose is the sugar used in RNA. In a Nature Geoscience [...] The post Scientists examining samples returned from asteroid Bennu found ribose and glucose inside — and with phosphate and every RNA nucleobase already detected in the same asteroid material, every chemical component needed to build RNA was present in the early solar system, long before life existed on Earth. appeared first on Space Daily .