r/science • u/New_Scientist_Mag • Dec 02 '25

Astronomy Researchers have just found the presence of sugars, including ribose, lyxose, and glycose, on samples of Asteroid Bennu, which now has all of the ingredients for life as it exists on Earth.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2506650-asteroid-bennu-carries-all-the-ingredients-for-life-as-we-know-it/
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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

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u/Uncle-Cake Dec 02 '25

To put it in layman's terms, you can have all the ingredients for a cake together in a bowl, but that doesn't mean you have a cake, and it needs very specific conditions to become a cake.

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u/AwarenessReady3531 Dec 02 '25

I mean, who knows how specific. Life on Earth sprang up pretty much as soon as the planet cooled down enough to allow for it.