New Jersey meteorite contains amino acids and briny salts, offering clues to life's origins

In the summer of 2024, a two-pound meteorite fell through the roof of a home in Hillsborough, New Jersey, and landed in a man's bedroom — an improbable collision that turned a private residence into a window onto the ancient solar system. Scientists examining the rock found amino acids and mineral salts left behind by evaporated water ice, remnants of chemistry that unfolded billions of years ago in the cold space between worlds. The discovery does not settle the question of life's origins, but it deepens a compelling possibility: that the molecular foundations of life are not Earth's inventio