A group of scientists at NASA’s Ames Research Center created uracil, cytosine and thymine, three nucleobases that are among the chemical components of RNA and DNA. This result was obtained by reproducing the conditions existing in the space, even interstellar. Obtaining these molecules by non-biological processes shows that at least part of life’s building blocks may have arrived on Earth after being formed in space.

To create the three nucleobases, NASA scientists started from pyrimidine, a molecule composed of hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen. It was found in meteors so there’s the certainty that it exists in space. Uracil, cytosine and thymine are derived from pyrimidine and the experiment aimed to verify that it was possible to obtain them under the conditions found in space.