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 scie...