Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
You put your right molecule in, you take your right molecule out, you put your sample in the centrifuge, and you shake it all about...
Amino acids — the building blocks of life — can be right or left-handed, a property known as chirality. Last year, our OSIRIS-REx spacecraft brought to Earth samples of an asteroid called Bennu, which contain amino acids. As NASA scientists got to work exploring those samples, we found some chiral surprises.
In Earthlings, Amino acids exist almost exclusively in one of their two possible orientations. We expected to see some of this imbalance in the Bennu samples, too. But the samples revealed an even mix of both molecule orientations, suggesting that something else in the development of early life may have caused the imbalance.
Music: "Hook Shot" from Universal Production Music
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio
Katy Mersmann (NASA/GSFC): Producer
Ryan Fitzgibbons (eMITS): Project Support
Dan Gallagher (eMITS): Project Support
Rob Andreoli (eMITS): Lead Videographer
John Philyaw (eMITS): Videographer
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14142.
While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14142.
For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines.
If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: youtube.com/NASAGoddard
Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
· Instagram instagram.com/nasagoddard
· Twitter twitter.com/NASAGoddard
· Facebook: facebook.com/NASAGoddard
· Flickr flickr.com/photos/gsfc
Video description:
0:00 A woman wearing a maroon NASA shirt talks in front of a greenscreen backdrop of gray regolith. The word chirality is spelled out phonetically above her.
0:07 A 3D structure of an amino acid zooms back to become part of a protein.
0:11 Three stacked clips show phytoplankton under a microscope, purple flowers, and running giraffes.
0:13 Back to the woman talking.
0:19 Two hands, palms down on a box, seen from above. They cross, so one hand is stacked on top of the other. Although most of the fingers more or less line up, the thumbs are sticking out in opposite directions.
0:26 Two stacked pictures of gloved hands slide in from opposite directions. In each, a 3D molecule model is superimposed. The top glove is holding L-Alanine. The bottom is holding D-Alanine. These are the same molecular structure but oriented differently.
0:29 Back to the woman talking.
0:43 Flying through space, past the Sun, past Earth, the asteroid belt, and Jupiter.
0:52 Fade to the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft flying toward an asteroid.
0:55 OSIRIS-REx’s sample container is seen from the spacecraft’s perspective as it blasts rocks up into the container.
0:58 Animation of a large white and red parachute falling over the desert, with a small black capsule suspended.
0:59 A gloved hand holds up a small vial with dark gray liquid.
1:02 Fade to the black regolith of the Bennu sample.
1:04 Back to the woman talking.
1:16 Looking down at the sample capsule full of regolith.
1:18 A tiny vial with a small pile of dark gray regolith.
1:19 Two tiny Bennu rocks seen under a microscope with bright white veins.
1:21 Back to the woman talking.
You put your right molecule in, you take your right molecule out, you put your sample in the centrifuge, and you shake it all about...
Amino acids — the building blocks of life — can be right or left-handed, a property known as chirality. Last year, our OSIRIS-REx spacecraft brought to Earth samples of an asteroid called Bennu, which contain amino acids. As NASA scientists got to work exploring those samples, we found some chiral surprises.
In Earthlings, Amino acids exist almost exclusively in one of their two possible orientations. We expected to see some of this imbalance in the Bennu samples, too. But the samples revealed an even mix of both molecule orientations, suggesting that something else in the development of early life may have caused the imbalance.
Music: "Hook Shot" from Universal Production Music
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio
Katy Mersmann (NASA/GSFC): Producer
Ryan Fitzgibbons (eMITS): Project Support
Dan Gallagher (eMITS): Project Support
Rob Andreoli (eMITS): Lead Videographer
John Philyaw (eMITS): Videographer
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14142.
While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14142.
For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines.
If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: youtube.com/NASAGoddard
Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
· Instagram instagram.com/nasagoddard
· Twitter twitter.com/NASAGoddard
· Facebook: facebook.com/NASAGoddard
· Flickr flickr.com/photos/gsfc
Video description:
0:00 A woman wearing a maroon NASA shirt talks in front of a greenscreen backdrop of gray regolith. The word chirality is spelled out phonetically above her.
0:07 A 3D structure of an amino acid zooms back to become part of a protein.
0:11 Three stacked clips show phytoplankton under a microscope, purple flowers, and running giraffes.
0:13 Back to the woman talking.
0:19 Two hands, palms down on a box, seen from above. They cross, so one hand is stacked on top of the other. Although most of the fingers more or less line up, the thumbs are sticking out in opposite directions.
0:26 Two stacked pictures of gloved hands slide in from opposite directions. In each, a 3D molecule model is superimposed. The top glove is holding L-Alanine. The bottom is holding D-Alanine. These are the same molecular structure but oriented differently.
0:29 Back to the woman talking.
0:43 Flying through space, past the Sun, past Earth, the asteroid belt, and Jupiter.
0:52 Fade to the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft flying toward an asteroid.
0:55 OSIRIS-REx’s sample container is seen from the spacecraft’s perspective as it blasts rocks up into the container.
0:58 Animation of a large white and red parachute falling over the desert, with a small black capsule suspended.
0:59 A gloved hand holds up a small vial with dark gray liquid.
1:02 Fade to the black regolith of the Bennu sample.
1:04 Back to the woman talking.
1:16 Looking down at the sample capsule full of regolith.
1:18 A tiny vial with a small pile of dark gray regolith.
1:19 Two tiny Bennu rocks seen under a microscope with bright white veins.
1:21 Back to the woman talking.
