NASA’s Bennu asteroid holds secrets of life: Discovery of sugars, mysterious space gum, and ancient supernova star dust

Bennu asteroid samples returned by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission reveal life's building blocks, including sugars like ribose and glucose. Scientists also found a unique nitrogen-rich polymer, offering clues to early life's chemical origins. The asteroid's high concentration of supernova dust sheds light on its formation environment and the distribution of presolar materials in our early solar system.