When NASA launched a spacecraft to an asteroid, scientists patiently waited for their chance to look at bits of the space ...

And while our bodies naturally make amino acids, manufacturing them for commercial use can be costly—and the process often emits greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO 2). In a new study ...

Two exciting new studies detail the life-supporting contents of a 4.3-ounce sample of the asteroid Bennu. The OSIRIS-REx ...

Scientists have detected organic compounds and minerals necessary for life in the samples collected by the OSIRIS-REx mission ...

There are 20 amino acids that create the proteins required for life on our planet — and scientists have now found exactly 14 ...

Amino acids are characterized by their central carbon atom, known as the α-carbon, which is bonded to an amino group (-NH2), a carboxyl group (-COOH), a hydrogen atom, and a variable side chain ...

Rock and dust samples retrieved by NASA from the asteroid Bennu exhibit some of the chemical building blocks of life, ...

In a new peer reviewed analysis, scientists quantify amino acids before and after our “last universal common ancestor.” The last universal common ancestor is the single life form that branched ...

(Hint: It’s a lot.) A biggie as of late? Amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. The 11 amino acids our bodies synthesize are called “nonessential,” but we need nine others (k ...