Early analysis of asteroid samples from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission show the residue of an icy brine, and a soup of amino acids.

The meteor fragments returned by OSIRIS-REx shed light on the entwined history of water and the chemical ingredients of life in the solar system.

When exposed to formaldehyde, which was also detected, ammonia can form amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. According to the study in Nature Astronom y, the team also found 14 of the 20 ...

NASA’s Bennu asteroid sample provides fresh insights into the potential for life beyond Earth, revealing key organic compounds and minerals.

Samples from asteroid Bennu have delivered insights into the origins of Earth’s water and the organic molecules that may have ...

The latest discovery, unveiled by the NASA on January 29, came as a bit of a surprise and posed many exciting questions such ...

Japanese scientists detected all five nucleobases — building blocks of DNA and RNA — in samples returned from asteroid Bennu ...

Studies of asteroid Bennu delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft have revealed molecules that, on our planet, are key to life.

Asteroid Bennu’s dust reveals amino acid precursors and ancient water traces, fueling hopes that Saturn’s moon Enceladus and ...

A new analysis of samples from the asteroid Bennu reveals that evaporated water left a briny broth where salts and minerals allowed the elemental ingredients of life to intermingle.

Asteroid Bennu seems to have come from a long-lost world on the fringes of the solar system, where saltwater pooled and dried ...

Samples of asteroid Bennu contain molecules that suggest the "conditions necessary for life" were widespread across the early ...