A cosmic messenger older than Earth crashed into an Australian field, scattering carbon-rich fragments across the soil. The shards contain alien amino acids and dust from before the Sun ignited—a time capsule of the chemistry that seeded life.

The Murchison Meteorite is a message from before Earth was born. It formed over 4.6 billion years ago—before our Sun finished igniting—and drifted through space until crashing into a cow paddock in rural Australia in 1969. Within its charred fragments, scientists found over 90 amino acids—building blocks of life—including 70 that do not naturally occur on Earth. It also carried sugars, nucleobase-like molecules, and compounds enriched with heavy carbon isotopes—signatures of formation in deep interstellar space. These chemicals were not contaminants; they had survived eons frozen in space, embedded in a stone older than any fossil, any mountain, any ocean. Its contents imply that the seeds of life are not unique to our planet, but are scattered across the galaxy. Every molecule tells us: the chemistry of life is cosmic. The Murchison Meteorite is not just a rock—it is chemical evidence that biology may begin long before biology exists.