Astrobiology

NASA and partner scientists reported Tuesday in Nature Geoscience and Nature Astronomy that samples from asteroid Bennu contain bio‑essential sugars and an unprecedented 'gum‑like' matrix, offering new clues to how life’s building blocks formed and spread in the early solar system. The three papers, led by Yoshihiro Furukawa (Tohoku University), Scott Sandford (NASA Ames) and Zack Gainsforth (UC Berkeley), and Ann Nguyen (NASA Johnson), also indicate Bennu formed in a region enriched with stardust from dying stars.