Building Blocks of Life Found  in Meteorite That Crashed in Gloucestershire, UK

New research has been published on the organic analysis of the Winchcombe meteorite which crash-landed onto a driveway in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, UK in 2021. The research, led by Dr. Queenie Chan, from the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London, found organic compounds from space which holds the secrets to the origin of life. The research was published on January 9, 2023 in Meteoritics & Planetary Science. The open-access article is titled “The Amino Acid and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Compositions of the Promptly Recovered CM2 Winchcombe Carbonaceous Chondrite.” In the study, the analysis found a range of organic matter which reveals that the meteorite was once from part of an asteroid where liquid water occurred, and if that asteroid had been given access to the water, a chemical reaction could have occurred leading to more molecules turning into amino acids and protein--the building blocks of life.