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RNA compound and vitamin B3 found in samples from near-Earth asteroid

cnn.com

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Re: RNA compound and vitamin B3 found in samples from near-Earth asteroid

#5
This has gotta add weight to the Panspermia hypothesis.

Panspermia is a hypothesis that suggests life on Earth may have originated from microorganisms or organic matter that traveled through space, potentially from other planets or moons in our solar system or even from other star systems.

Re: RNA compound and vitamin B3 found in samples from near-Earth asteroid

#6
They didn't detect RNA which would be extraordinary. What they detected is Uracil, one of the molecules that is found in RNA.

They didn't found any other nucleotides.

"Other DNA/RNA nucleobases were not positively identified in both the A0106 and C0107 samples. This does not necessarily exclude a possibility that those nucleobases are present in the Ryugu samples, but just they may be below the detection limit under the experimental conditions employed"

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36904-3

For having RNA you need a molecule composed of roughly 200 nucleotides. If we find RNA, it would be very indicative of DNA, so of living beings very similar to us

Re: RNA compound and vitamin B3 found in samples from near-Earth asteroid

#7
post #5

This has gotta add weight to the Panspermia hypothesis. Panspermia is a hypothesis that suggests life on Earth may have originated from microorganisms or organic matter that traveled through space, potentially from other planets or moons in our solar system or even from other star systems.

> Panspermia is a hypothesis that suggests life on Earth may have originated from microorganisms

But where did the microorganisms on the asteroid come from?

Re: RNA compound and vitamin B3 found in samples from near-Earth asteroid

#8
post #5

This has gotta add weight to the Panspermia hypothesis. Panspermia is a hypothesis that suggests life on Earth may have originated from microorganisms or organic matter that traveled through space, potentially from other planets or moons in our solar system or even from other star systems.

> Panspermia is a hypothesis that suggests life on Earth may have originated from microorganisms But where did the microorganisms on the asteroid come from?

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Re: RNA compound and vitamin B3 found in samples from near-Earth asteroid

#10
post #5

This has gotta add weight to the Panspermia hypothesis. Panspermia is a hypothesis that suggests life on Earth may have originated from microorganisms or organic matter that traveled through space, potentially from other planets or moons in our solar system or even from other star systems.

The opposite. If such compounds are common in asteroids absent life, then the rise of RNA/DNA on different planets is more likely to be happening spontaneously, without anything traveling between planets. This finding suggests that some building blocks of life may be very common, increasing the chances of life arising locally without need of panspermia.
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