Ring-like carbon molecules that are essential for the creation of nucleic acids like DNA and RNA might have formed in a meteorite called Murchison before it landed in Australia in 1969, according to Zita Martins, a chemist at Imperial College London.

The ratio of carbon-13 to carbon-12 was unusually high in the two nucleobases, leading the team to conclude the materials likely formed in the meteorite itself rather than on Earth.

The controversial find might bolster claims that meteorites delivered some of the chemicals needed to create life.