Photo: screenshot of Science Daily

 

Dominating the hot search list on China's social media platform since early Wednesday was the topic: "confirmed for the first time that existence of the source of life was found outside the Earth," sparking heated discussions among Chinese netizens, with some joking that they can finally "travel somewhere new," showing excitement and applause for another major step in human being's understanding of the vast universe. 

The finding was made by Japan's Hayabusa2 space probe, as more than 20 types of amino acids have been detected in the samples it brought back to Earth from an asteroid in late 2020, a government official said on Monday, suggesting for the first time the organic compounds exist on asteroids in space, Kyodo News reported. 

With amino acids essential for all living things to make proteins, the discovery could hold clues to understanding the origins of life, the report said.

Kensei Kobayashi, professor emeritus of astrobiology at Yokohama National University, said the unprecedented discovery of multiple types of amino acids on an extraterrestrial body could even hint at the existence of life outside of Earth.

As Chinese netizens amazed at the feat, they have left various comments expressing their curiosity and excitement. 

One netizen said on Sina Weibo that his childhood fantasy has finally come true. "I have always thought, when I was a kid, the conclusion that no life exists outside the Earth may only be an illusion that aliens created to trick us. It seemed that they have obtained the ability to make themselves invisible for Earth residents." 

Some others have even written down their Earth address for alien friends to find. "Please watch out when you go outside your planet searching for fun," another comment said. 

"Don't forget to take nucleic acid test when you do arrive on Earth," some others commented. 

Hayabusa2 was groundbreaking in that it collected subsurface materials not weathered by sunlight or cosmic rays, and delivered them to Earth unexposed to outside air, Japanese media said.