Making amino acids is tricky, even in the laboratory. We know amino acids exist in some kinds of meteorites and interplanetary dust particles. When they rain down on a planet's surface ...

Previous research has reported that meteorites that have fallen to Earth contain about 1.6 times as many left-handed amino acids as right-handed amino acids, indicating that the proportion of left ...

The cause of the dominant “left-handedness” in amino acids for life on Earth is still a mystery. Although building blocks of life have been found in meteorites, the findings noted in the ...

and high levels of ammonia—which can aid in the formation of amino acids. If that wasn’t enough, another team—led by meteorite experts and cosmic mineralogists at Smithsonian’s National ...

Although synthetic biology labs have toyed with the possibility of building mirror bacteria, scientists have opted to ditch ...

Analysing returned samples Tim McCoy (right), curator of meteorites at the Smithsonian’s National ... dirt brought back to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission contains amino acids and the nucleobases ...

Finally, they tested samples of amino acids in ice mixed with silicate dust to consider the potential mixing of material from meteorites or the interior with surface ice. The experiments provided ...

Today, we know that left-handed amino acids are the building blocks of life. Nearly all living organisms on Earth, from bacteria to humans, make proteins from left-handed amino acids.

These amino acids are often known as the “building ... Other samples taken from meteorites and other asteroids have also bolstered these beliefs by providing data on ancient water that has ...