A sleep-inducing molecule humans use to make proteins was found, along with other amino acids, on an asteroid named Bennu.

Two papers describing the discovery appear in the current issue of the journal Science. Prior to this, scientists had believed that there were only 21 natural amino acids — the key building blocks of ...

Scientists have uncovered an extraordinary finding on Asteroid Bennu, a space rock that passes near Earth roughly every six years. NASA’s recent research has confirmed that Bennu contains tryptophan, ...

When NASA scientists opened the sample return canister from the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample mission in late 2023, they found ...

A new analysis of samples returned from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu has revealed a rich collection of organic molecules, ...

One of the most elegant theories about the origins of life on our planet is that it was kick-started by a delivery from outer space. This idea suggests that prebiotic molecules—the building blocks of ...

Chemists fill a major gap in origin-of-life theories. Molecules often have a structural asymmetry called chirality, which means they can appear in alternative, mirror-image versions, akin to the left ...

Researchers say the latest discovery is particularly significant because tryptophan has never before been detected in meteorites.

Nucleic acids are complex biological molecules that store and transmit genetic information in all living organisms. They are essential for the survival and reproduction of life on Earth. The two main ...

Tryptophan, the essential amino acid behind the Thanksgiving myth that eating turkey can make you sleepy, has been found to exist on Bennu, a small asteroid that swings by our planet about every six ...