News Planetary Science

Ribose, a sugar needed for life, has been detected in meteorites

The find suggests that a molecule crucial to life’s genetic machinery hitched a ride to Earth

Space rocks hitting Earth illustration

Space rocks that fell on a young Earth (illustrated) could have carried with them ribose, a molecule essential for life’s genetic machinery. This sugar now has been found in two meteorites.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

By Christopher Crockett

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