First, some meta-posting: how often is an article in Nature (or even Nature-family of journals) anything other than biochem, molecular bio, or related chem-tech (including genetics)? Well, here’s an astro-article, even though there’s still a bio angle in it. From Nature Communications vol. 15 (July):
Changela, H. G. Kebukawa, Y. Petera, L. et al. The evolution of organic material on Asteroid 1621… p. 6165 s41467-024-50004-w
Asteroid (162173) Ryugu is the gift that keeps on giving. We have long since seen the remote-sensing results (peer-reviewed papers) on the Hayabusa2 instrument data. Then came review- and second-generation-works: attempts to draw deeper conclusions and implications of Ryugu… or of carbonaceous chondrite bodies, C-meteorites and carbonaceous dust, etc., extending out to the early Solar System and the history of small bodies (including getting tossed around by e. g., Jupiter or something). Now, see some advanced- and second-generation studies of Ryugu returned materials, including by outside research groups.
Have a look at some meta-research on the organics of a carbonaceous (C-type) asteroid- a sample that was sealed into a canister, with double redundant knife-edged lips into a gasket. Not a rubber gasket- a soft-metal sheet, since the Haya2 program was preparing for this day. We had “known” organics existed in free space (via advanced spectroscopy), and in meteorites (via carbonaceous-chondrite falls). But there’s still a nagging doubt: just how sure are we? Might the spectra of space-dust actually be bad instrument output? Might the organics “in” meteorites- plural as that may be- actually be contamination from the ground, from recovery crews, from lab technicians?
Nag no more. The telescope spectra have been confirmed and re-confirmed for years now; the meteorite assays have been refined and re-refined by next-generation mass spectrometers, which lab technicians could only dream of in 1970 (when the Murchison meteorite reached labs). And now we have Hayabusa2 samples, with exactly zero ground contact, or recovery handling (the sample chamber was not unsealed until within the Japanese lab/curation facility). We can now draw quite sure observations on the C-type asteroids, and fairly good implications on the history of the small-body population, of the early Solar System, and of water and organics landing on the early Earth, Mars, etc.
And this is all ahead of newer, deeper Bennu results. Two independent teams, hardware setups, and mission processes, supplying (mostly) independent study groups. Again, nag no more. Just how sure are we? Between Ryugu, Bennu, and all the ‘dirty’ meteorites, we can tell naggers to read the results. The quite sure results.