An important discovery has been made concerning the possible
inventory of molecules available to the early Earth. Scientists led by Sandra
Pizzarello, a research professor at Arizona State University, found that the
Sutter’s Mill meteorite, which exploded in a blazing fireball over California
last year, contains organic molecules not previously found in any meteorites.
These findings suggest a far greater availability of extraterrestrial organic
molecules than previously thought possible, an inventory that could indeed have
been important in molecular evolution and life itself.