this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
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Scientists Just Found All 5 Genetic “Letters” of DNA and RNA on an Asteroid (scitechdaily.com)
submitted 6 days ago by Delta_V@lemmy.world to c/space@mander.xyz
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The discovery of all five nucleobases on Ryugu strengthens the idea that life’s molecular ingredients formed in space before reaching Earth.

A new study reports that samples from the asteroid Ryugu contain all five fundamental nucleobases, the molecular “letters” of life.

Tiny asteroid grains can preserve chemical clues about the ingredients that may have helped life emerge on Earth. The Ryugu material was returned from space in 2020 by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Hayabusa2 mission.

In 2023, an international research team reported finding uracil, one of the nucleobases, in the Ryugu samples. Now, a study published on March 16, 2026, in Nature Astronomy by Japanese scientists has confirmed that all five nucleobases are present in the pristine asteroid material.

The finding suggests that these life related ingredients may have been common across the young Solar System...

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[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Well the thought of complex life all over the place is in fact really cool. But that also comes with some scary implications. If it turns out that complex life is extremely common, that's actually very bad news for the outlook of our civilization. It would mean that life starts up all the time and for some reason it never survives long enough to develop advanced technology.

For that reason I hope that we find bacterial life, but nothing larger than single cells. I hope that eukaryotic life is extremely rare.

[–] hzl@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 5 days ago

It may be that land is fairly rare on planets with life. Much of the chemistry we rely on for civilization-building doesn't really work under water.

[–] Manalith@midwest.social 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Or it's developed advanced enough life that they're hiding from us until they deem us fit to join the intergalactic community.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Well that's certainly a valid theory to explain where everyone is. In examination though, it's not a terribly robust theory, because it assumes that the "galactic community" is a monolithic body with no bad actors. I mean even if whatever galactic council in charge decided not to interact with us, you don't think that some third party wouldn't just do it anyway? There's always some jerk breaking the rules, always. And if there's a whole galaxy full of individuals, there are a whole lot of chances for someone to be a bad actor. How do you control the actions of a whole galaxy of individuals?