Asteroid Bennu Just Changed the Origin Story of Life

Originally published by Penn State in SciTech Daily on February 9, 2026

Scientists studying asteroid Bennu have discovered that key amino acids may have formed in icy, radiation-rich environments rather than warm water. The findings suggest life’s basic ingredients can arise in far more extreme corners of space than previously thought. (A view of eight sample trays containing the final material from asteroid Bennu.) Credit: NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold

Tiny grains of dust from asteroid Bennu are reshaping how scientists think life’s ingredients formed in space. Scientists previously identified amino acids, the essential components of life, inside 4.6-billion-year-old rocks collected from the asteroid Bennu. These samples were brought back to Earth in 2023 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. While the discovery confirmed that life’s basic ingredients exist beyond Earth, how those molecules formed in space remained unclear. New research led by scientists at Penn State now suggests these amino acids may have emerged in extremely cold, radiation-rich conditions during the earliest days of the solar system.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on February 9, indicate that several amino acids found in Bennu did not form through the processes scientists had long assumed. Instead, they appear to have developed under harsh environmental conditions, unlike those previously associated with amino acid formation.

“Our results flip the script on how we have typically thought amino acids formed in asteroids,” said Allison Baczynski, assistant research professor of geosciences at Penn State and co-lead author on the paper. “It now looks like there are many conditions where these building blocks of life can form, not just when there’s warm liquid water. Our analysis showed that there’s much more diversity in the pathways and conditions in which these amino acids can be formed.”

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