Can scientists detect life without knowing what it looks like? Research using machine learning offers a new way

Many carbon-rich meteorites contain ingredients commonly found in life, but no evidence of life itself. James St. John, CC BY

When NASA scientists opened the sample return canister from the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample mission in late 2023, they found something astonishing.

Dust and rock collected from the asteroid Bennu contained many of life’s building blocks, including all five nucleobases used in DNA and RNA, 14 of the 20 amino acids found in proteins, and a rich collection of other organic molecules. These are built primarily from carbon and hydrogen, and they often form the backbone of life’s chemistry.