Asteroid Ryugu Has All of the Main Ingredients For Life (newscientist.com)
- Reference: 0181014142
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/03/17/0318215/asteroid-ryugu-has-all-of-the-main-ingredients-for-life
- Source link: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2519423-the-asteroid-ryugu-has-all-of-the-main-ingredients-for-life/
> Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft [2]visited Ryugu in 2018, where it [3]shot two projectiles -- one small and one large -- into the surface of the asteroid and [4]collected the resulting debris. It arrived back at Earth with the samples [5]in 2020 and researchers have been analyzing these in detail ever since. Yasuhiro Oba at Hokkaido University in Japan and his colleagues examined two samples, one from the asteroid's surface and one comprised of subsurface materials excavated by the projectiles. In both, the team found all five primary nucleobases, which are the compounds that make up the nucleic acids DNA and RNA when combined with sugars and phosphoric acid.
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> This isn't the first time that nucleobases have been found in asteroid samples: they have been seen in meteorites, too, and in samples from the asteroid Bennu. The researchers did find different abundances of the various nucleobases among the various samples, though, which hints that these compounds might be useful for tracing asteroids and meteorites back to the parent bodies that they broke off from in the distant past, as well as understanding the evolution of those parent bodies over time.
The findings have been [6]published in the journal Nature Astronomy .
[1] https://www.newscientist.com/article/2519423-the-asteroid-ryugu-has-all-of-the-main-ingredients-for-life/
[2] https://science.slashdot.org/story/18/09/23/2344240/japans-two-hopping-rovers-successfully-land-on-asteroid-ryugu
[3] https://science.slashdot.org/story/19/02/23/0124249/japans-hayabusa-2-successfully-touches-down-on-ryugu-asteroid-fires-bullet-into-its-surface
[4] https://science.slashdot.org/story/20/12/06/0315235/dust-from-japans-asteroid-blasting-probe-returns-to-earth
[5] https://science.slashdot.org/story/20/12/27/194230/samples-from-ryugu-asteroid-revealed-after-delivery-to-earth
[6] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02791-z
Interesting observation, but the conclusion... (Score:2)
Do they also have a theory about how to deliver the nucleobases to the surface without damaging them? It suggests more that these substances are easily formed, not that asteroids brought them to earth.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, their assumption that a sterile planetary body will not spontaneously develop this chemistry is not a really solid null hypothesis, especially given the number of demonstrations that amino acids fall out of proto-Earth conditions.
Re: (Score:2)
You're right, but being bombarded with material almost certainly added nucleobases to the environment at a much higher rate than would have been domestically produced (and destroyed)
Ultimately, whether truly native, or re-seeded after sterilizing formation seems pretty moot to me.
Re: (Score:3)
Shooting from the hip? embedded within the bolides. Many land that are not universally melted, unlike the Earth, which was.
Studies have reasonably argued that anything up to microbial life (nevermind nucleobases) can survive reentry with ease.
Even midi-chlorians? (Score:1)
Or chloromidians? Was there any mention of chlorine on it?
In the absence of chlorine, would flouromidians form? Would flouromidian-based life have any unusual properties?
Or whatever it is that tricorders detect?
Or souls? Did it make a detour through our solar system to pick up a few souls for later use?
Or.... (Score:2)
Every rocky body in the solar system has these same elements.
Interesting, but (Score:1)
Do you know where else those substances are found in abundance? Earth.
Is there any reason to suppose they weren't formed here, by the same or similar processes by which they ended up on the asteroids?
Re:Interesting, but (Score:4, Insightful)
You seem not to understand how science works. There can be multiple theories worth considering.
"Is there any reason to suppose they weren't formed here, by the same or similar processes by which they ended up on the asteroids?"
To suppose? What do you mean by suppose? Assume? Yes there is a reason not to assume. Theorize? No, there is no reason not to theorize, so how do you test that theory?
Do you oppose scientists trying to advance knowledge?
Re: (Score:2)
I am with the previous poster on this one. Besides the fact that nucleobases have been known to be in asteroids and comets since at least the 1980ies (together with ribose and other sugars, and amino acids), their presence in Ryugu does not hint that meteorites brought them to Earth. Instead, it hints at them forming easily under the conditions of the Solar system and being abundant everywhere it is not too hot for them to be destroyed.
Re: (Score:3)
> and being abundant everywhere it is not too hot for them to be destroyed.
Like the gravitationally heated (see: melted) ball of rock and iron that became the Earth?
Re: (Score:2)
> To suppose? What do you mean by suppose? Assume? Yes there is a reason not to assume. Theorize? No, there is no reason not to theorize, so how do you test that theory?
Well, to start with, you need to create a new universe from scratch. From there, it's just a matter of waiting around for a few billion years to see the results.
Re: (Score:1)
It was me. I licked them all. They're mine now.
Re: (Score:2)
Probably the most obvious one I can think of, is what the Earth endured due to its formation. It's unlikely primordial nucleobases would have survived its formation.
More likely is some kind of situation where they were abundant on most or all space rocks, and the Earth was sterilized during formation, and re-seeded after it cooled.
Re: (Score:2)
Wouldn't pretty much everywhere in the universe undergo the same initial formation, though? Saying 'life came from SPACE!' just pushes the origin to somewhere we can't really test or even pinpoint.
Re: (Score:3)
1) No, things like asteroids do not undergo gravitational heating to the point of melting into a ball of lava. They lack the mass.
2) It's not saying life came from space. What we call life almost certainly originated here. The building blocks of it likely came from space.
3) I'd argue an attempt at trying to pinpoint the origin of life, given the breadth of knowledge we currently have, is unscientific.
Any planet of sufficient mass would be totally sterilized in its formation. Space rocks wouldn't be. If