It has been just over two years since NASA’s OSIRIS-REx brought back to Earth 121 grams of precious samples collected from Asteroid Bennu . The material has already delivered incredible insights into what this space rock is made of, including all but one of the molecules needed to kickstart life as we know it on Earth. Now, scientists reveal they just found the missing ingredient. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

In a series of new papers, researchers report the presence of sugars that are fundamental for life on Earth, as well as stardust and a polymer formed from a molecule called ammonium carbamate, which has been dubbed "space gum". These findings expand the already complex tapestry of what we know about the anc

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