Ryugu asteroid sample contains all five key components of DNA and RNA: the building blocks of all living things

363 points by ibwitmypigeons a day ago on reddit | 9 comments

costafilh0 | 23 hours ago

So god was an asteroid?

Tamasko22 | 13 hours ago

"Panspermia" is what you're referring to.
Asteroids are part of the solar system. So this finding could mean the solar system contains all ingredients for life, abundantly, so we can expect to see (procaryotic) life on all bodies inside the solar system where the requirements for life are met. But there is a good chance that the presence of the ingredients are not enough to bake the cake, you may need a "cook; the very specific requirements for dead things to become non dead things, maybe places where a "cook" is present are very, very rare(rare earth hypothesis).
This finding can't tell us anything about other star systems, there is a chance that we are just in a part of the galaxy where these ingredients happen to be accumulated more than average, maybe our neighborhood is just where "the grass is greener" for life, and in other parts there is very little grass, so there is less chance for life to develop. We have to search for these ingredients on interstellar objects to know more about the expectancy of life on exoplanets.

tsardonicpseudonomi | 21 hours ago

It really makes you wonder what god needed with that starship when god was an asteroid all along.

Strangeronthebus2019 | 9 hours ago

>So god was an asteroid?

Emmanuel🔴🔵: Lolz ☄️

FigureFourWoo | 22 hours ago

We all come from the Big Bang.

AlbertanSays5716 | 19 hours ago

Ultimately, yes, simply because everything comes from the Big Bang. But to paraphrase Carl Sagan, we are made of star stuff. The elements that make up our bodies - carbon, iron, oxygen, etc - all come from nucleosynthesis, either being made when a star burns or when it explodes. We are literally made from exploding stars.

Kinda cool really.

Scienceontheloose | 12 hours ago

I'm paraphrasing, but I think Carl Sagan said something like, "We're all made of start stuff."

CheeseGooners | 19 hours ago

Id rather not think about it

PitchPleasant338 | 12 hours ago

That's not Ryugu, that's Wagyu!