A handful of dust is raising big questions.

When NASA brought pieces of asteroid Bennu back to Earth, the goal was simple and audacious, touch a relic from the early solar system and read its chemistry like a time capsule. In labs in Houston and around the world, the sample is now revealing carbon rich material, signs of water altered minerals, and a growing list of molecules tied to biology. None of this proves life came from space, but it sharpens the case that key ingredients arrived early and often.



