A fresh examination of meteorites that landed in the United States, Canada and Australia is bolstering the notion that early in Earth’s history, such objects may have delivered chemical ingredients vital for the advent of life.
Highlights
- Three meteorites that landed in U.S., Canada and Australia found to contain chemical ingredients needed for the advent of life.
- Researchers found two of the five chemical components needed to form DNA and RNA.
- Nucleobases are nitrogen-containing compounds crucial in forming DNA’s characteristic double-helix structure.
- Meteorites could have been an important source of organic compounds necessary for the emergence of Earth’s first living organisms, study co-author says.
- Earth formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago.
- In its infancy, it was pelted by meteorites, comets and other material from space.