This mineral-rich asteroid might have carried the seeds of life. Planetary scientists have discovered organic matter essential to life in dust and rock retrieved from an asteroid known as Bennu. The finding supports the theory that near-Earth asteroids,

Samples from asteroid Bennu have delivered insights into the origins of Earth’s water and the organic molecules that may have seeded life.

The asteroid Bennu contains a lot of organic molecules, including many essential building blocks of life, according to a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday. It suggests that the chemistry that produced the asteroid may be occurring today on the ice moons of Jupiter and Saturn.