{"id":947628,"date":"2026-07-20T14:59:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T14:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/947628\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T14:59:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T14:59:25","slug":"new-jersey-meteorite-contains-amino-acids-building-blocks-of-life-scientists-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/947628\/","title":{"rendered":"New Jersey meteorite contains amino acids, building blocks of life, scientists say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harvard physicist discusses mysterious orb sightings in newly released Pentagon UFO files<\/a> <\/p>\n

Avi Loeb, a Harvard theoretical physicist, discusses newly released Pentagon UFO files, highlighting remarkable sightings from 2023 involving mysterious “mother orbs” observed by law enforcement officials. Loeb states 40% of these phenomena remain unexplained, raising national security concerns about potential adversarial technologies or even extraterrestrial origins, labeling it the “biggest discovery ever made by humanity.”<\/p>\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

A meteorite that crashed through the roof of a New Jersey home two years ago contains some of the building blocks of life, scientists say \u2014 and is among the rarest space rocks ever recovered.<\/p>\n

The meteorite fell in Hillsborough, New Jersey, on July 16, 2024, and is the subject of a recent study published in Science Advances on July 15 \u2014 just in time for its two-year anniversary on Earth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The homeowner heard a “loud crash” at the time and found a hole in the ceiling that “covered the bed, carpet and surrounding areas,” according to a release from the SETI Institute, a private research organization based in Mountain View, California.<\/p>\n

ANCIENT ARTIFACTS FOUND BENEATH CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION AS ONE MYSTERY STILL STUMPS RESEARCHERS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“I smelled a strong sulfur-like odor and saw many black fragments,” said the homeowner, in a comment originally given to the scientists and researchers at SETI and NASA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No one was injured at the time, though the property was damaged.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up <\/p>\n

Scientists say the Hillsborough meteorite contains some of the chemical building blocks of life and ranks among the rarest meteorites ever recovered. (SETI Institute via SWNS)<\/p>\n

“The meteorite had broken into many fragments, including dust, and a strong sulfur-like odor was present in the 122 air,” said the report.<\/p>\n

Researchers identified it as a rare intermediate CM1\/2 carbonaceous chondrite, one of only two witnessed meteorite falls of that subtype.<\/p>\n

SCIENTISTS FIND ‘SIGNS OF LIFE’ INSIDE 5,300-YEAR-OLD MUMMY IN REMARKABLE DISCOVERY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“Our cameras in Northford, Connecticut, and Douglassville, Pennsylvania, as well as a doorbell camera in Wayne, New Jersey, captured the meteor, and from that we measured its trajectory…. The path traced back to low in the asteroid belt,” said Mike Hankey, operations manager for the American Meteor Society, in a SETI Institute statement.<\/p>\n

NASA said the meteorite preserves some of the oldest material in the solar system, recording chemical processes that occurred more than 4.5 billion years ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital reached out to NASA for additional comment.<\/p>\n

\"View <\/p>\n

The Hillsborough meteorite damaged a New Jersey home before researchers identified it as one of the rarest meteorites ever recovered. (SETI Institute via SWNS)<\/p>\n

In a July 15 release, NASA said an amateur astronomer quickly recognized that a freshly fallen meteorite had landed on his New Jersey property \u2014 then collected the fragments with gloves and stored them in aluminum foil and glass containers to preserve the samples.<\/p>\n

That proved to be crucial to the research project. The rock is helping scientists “uncover new clues about ancient water<\/a>, the chemical evolution of primitive asteroids, and the ingredients that may have helped make life possible throughout the early solar system,” NASA said.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The significant meteorite was dubbed the Hillsborough meteorite<\/a>, and understanding its origins required “expertise from multiple scientific disciplines,” added the agency.<\/p>\n

TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Danny Glavin, a senior scientist in the Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and a co-author of the study, said one of the biggest surprises<\/a> was the complexity of the amino acids in the meteorite, as well as its organic compounds.<\/p>\n

\"Split <\/p>\n

The Hillsborough home became an unexpected scientific landmark after a rare meteorite crashed through its roof in 2024. (SETI Institute via SWNS)<\/p>\n

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, while organic compounds are carbon-based molecules considered essential to life.<\/p>\n

“It’s just more proof that the chemical building blocks of life<\/a> could have been delivered \u2014 and are still being delivered \u2014 to Earth today by these carbonaceous asteroid fragments,” Glavin said in a release.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Peter Jenniskens, meteor astronomer at both NASA’s Ames Research Center and a study co-author, said that the team’s analysis of the meteorite’s trajectory, mineral composition and organic chemistry<\/a> are helping scientists better understand primitive asteroids.<\/p>\n

\"Hillsborough <\/p>\n

Researchers identified the Hillsborough meteorite as a rare intermediate CM1\/2 carbonaceous chondrite after it crashed through a New Jersey home. (SETI Institute via SWNS)<\/p>\n

The research enables scientists to “build one of the clearest pictures yet of how primitive asteroids such as the asteroid Erigone evolved chemically over billions of years,” he said.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“When we have both a documented fireball and a quick recovery of its meteorite, we can learn not only what the rock is made of, but where it came from in the asteroid belt,” added Jenniskens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harvard physicist discusses mysterious orb sightings in newly released Pentagon UFO files Avi Loeb, a Harvard theoretical physicist,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":947629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8],"tags":[2847,18179,916,381561,26918,159,1164,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-947628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-archaeology","tag-chemistry","tag-nasa","tag-natural-science","tag-planet-earth","tag-science","tag-travel","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116952902768890731","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=947628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}