Samples from asteroid Bennu are providing new insights into the origins of the solar system and the beginnings of life.

Since NASA’s Osiris-REx spacecraft returned the material to Earth in 2020, scientists have identified sugars and a previously unseen “gum-like” substance in the asteroid samples.

Three new studies, published in Nature Geosciences and Nature Astronomy, detail these findings: one highlights sugars as essential building blocks for life, another suggests the “space gum” could have catalyzed early biological processes, and a third traces dust from the asteroid’s rocks back to stars that predate the solar system, CBS News has reported.

These discoveries shed light on the chemical precursors that may have seeded life on Earth.