Ali Rogin (voice-over):
Preliminary analyses of the asteroid showed it contained water, carbon, nitrogen, and other organic matter. But the space rock held even more secrets. Last week, scientists revealed the sample also included amino acids, considered the building blocks of life and other components found in DNA.
This discovery has given momentum to a theory in the scientific community that not only can an asteroid destroy life as it did with the dinosaurs, but it can also spread it. Tim McCoy of the Smithsonian Institution is one of the lead authors who studied the sample.