Scientists Excited - Building Blocks of Life Found on Asteroid

An asteroid named Bennu is exciting scientists because an analysis of the space rock has revealed it contains the chemical building blocks of life. The asteroid had been captured by a NASA spacecraft and returned to Earth. It contains minerals and thousands of organic compounds including amino acids and nucleobases which are considered the fundamental components of DNA.

The discovery doesn’t confirm that there ever was life on Bennu. But it tends to offer support for the theory that an asteroid brought these necessary ingredients to Earth “billions of years” ago when it crashed into Earth.

“What we've learned from it is amazing,” said Prof Sara Russell, a cosmic mineralogist from the Natural History Museum in London. “It's telling us about our own origins, and it enables us to answer these really, really big questions about where life began. And who doesn't want to know about how life started?”

A NASA spacecraft called Osiris Rex used a robotic arm to collect about 120 grams of black dust from the 500m-wide space rock and then returned in a capsule to Earth. One-hundred twenty grams may not sound like much, but scientists consider it a treasure. “Every grain is telling us something new about Bennu,” said Prof Russell who has been studying the dust.

Scientists from around the world have had a chance to examine the material. The asteroid has been found to be full of nitrogen and carbon-rich compounds. Included are 14 of the 20 amino acids that living organisms use to build proteins and the molecules needed to make DNA. Also, minerals and salts that also were found hint that water may have once existed on the space rock.

“It's just incredible how rich it is. It's full of these minerals that we haven't seen before in meteorites and the combination of them that we haven't seen before. It's been such an exciting thing to study,” said Prof Russell.

Scientists believe that the early Solar System was turbulent with millions of asteroids flying around. Therefore, other planets would also have been hit by asteroids and been exposed to the important ingredients that researchers believe brought water and life to Earth.

Comments: So, what have these scientists really discovered? They have discovered some of the ingredients used by living organisms, but not all the ingredients. Only 14 of the 20 necessary amino acids, for instance. And they definitely haven’t discovered the spark that turned these materials into living organisms. And they haven’t explained where and how life first originated in the universe.

It seems to me this discovery is similar to a situation where one finds lumber, concrete blocks, glass, bricks, paint, cement, etc. sitting on a lot. But there are no buildings because there are no intelligent contractors around to put these ingredients together to form a useful building.

If there are millions of asteroids flying around crashing into numerous planets and bringing them the ingredients of life, why is there still no evidence of extraterrestrial life? The SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Organization has for decades been listening for signals of life coming from distant stars, using very sophisticated equipment, and so far they have not heard even a peep.

Christians know that life can only come from already living matter. Baby humans and animals come from living parents. New biological cells come from other living cells that divide. So, how did the first living cell originate if there was no living matter around to have evolved it?

Prof Russell suggested that everyone wants to know how life began. Well, Ms. Russell, Christians already know. God is the Creator who created life during the six days of creation. There is nothing in the Bible to suggest He created life anywhere else in the cosmos other than on our planet Earth. Because God is a living Being, the law of biogenesis (life only from other life) is not violated. 

And if God can create terrestrial life, He certainly can and has created spiritual life that will last forever. Like the angels, we who believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior from sin can expect to enjoy everlasting life amid the joys of heaven. Praise the Lord!

“Amen, Amen, I tell you: Anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He is not going to come into judgment but has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24

by Warren Krug

Reference: Rebecca Morelle and Alison Francis, “Asteroid contains building blocks of life, say scientists,” BBC [January 29, 2025].  (“Free to share and use” photo of asteroid Bennu, via Microsoft Bing.)

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What is another reason for regular eye exams?

In a recent study, some 17% of people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were found to have damaged blood vessels in their eyes. People with diabetes should be checked every year for this condition.

Source: “Health Wire,” Consumer Reports [October, 2024].

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