📌 TOPINDIATOURS Breaking ai: Samples From Distant Asteroid Contain All DNA and RNA

In June 2019, a Japanese spacecraft called Hayabusa2 touched down on Ryugu, a 3,000-foot asteroid some 185 million miles from Earth.

It then proceeded to fire a metal bullet at the surface, dislodging enough material to scoop up with a special “sampling horn” to take back home to our planet.

Scientists have been poring over the extremely rare samples ever since to study the near-Earth asteroid with the hope of learning about how the building blocks of planets evolved over time — and just maybe how life on our planet first came to be.

The latest findings, published in the journal Nature Astronomy by a team of researchers in Japan, tell a fascinating story: Ryugu appears to contain all the necessary ingredients to make the DNA and RNA underpinning life on Earth.

The conclusion supports the theory that errant space rocks like Ryugu could have brought life to Earth billions of years ago.

“Their detection in Ryugu strongly supports their ubiquity in the solar system,” coauthor and Hokkaido University post-doctoral researcher Yasuhiro Oba told New Scientist.

Oba and his colleagues examined surface and subsurface samples brought back by Hayabusa2, coming across all five primary nucleobases, which are compounds that make up DNA and RNA when combined with sugars and phosphoric acid.

The news comes after NASA scientists revealed last year that dust samples from a separate asteroid, dubbed Bennu, collected by its OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft in October 2020, similarly contained the building blocks of life. The rich array of minerals and organic compounds in the spacecraft’s samples featured amino acids and the requisite nucleobases.

While the latest findings suggest Ryugu’s samples contain all nucleobases — including uracil, adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine — required to build life, this “does not mean that life existed on Ryugu,” lead author and Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology post-doctoral researcher Toshiki Koga told Agence France-Presse.

“Instead, their presence indicates that primitive asteroids could produce and preserve molecules that are important for the chemistry related to the origin of life,” he added.

While the results “do not suggest that the origin of life took place in space,” University of Alcala astrobiologist Cesar Menor Salvan, who was not involved in the study, told AFP that we now have a “very clear idea of which organic materials can form under prebiotic conditions anywhere in the universe.”

“It is very likely that more complex organic molecules like nucleic acids are formed on asteroids,” Oba told New Scientist, suggesting the role of asteroids could be even more important in our quest to understand how life began on Earth.

More on Ryugu: Scientists Find Evidence of Flowing Water on Giant Asteroid

The post Samples From Distant Asteroid Contain All DNA and RNA Building Blocks appeared first on Futurism.

🔗 Sumber: futurism.com

📌 TOPINDIATOURS Hot ai: Hyundai taps US robotics firm to build humanoid welders fo

Hyundai has partnered with US-based robotics firm Persona AI to develop and commercialize humanoid welding humanoids for shipyards.

A joint development agreement was signed by HD Hyundai with HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, HD Hyundai Robotics, and Persona AI.

Under the agreement, HD KSOE will develop welding training systems using shipyard data, while HD Hyundai Robotics will handle integration. Persona AI will design a bipedal humanoid platform, with phased deployment planned across shipbuilding sites.

The deal builds on a May 2025 partnership after successful prototype evaluations, which aimed to develop humanoid robots capable of performing advanced welding tasks in shipyards.

Robots enter shipyards

Growing labor shortages in heavy industry, particularly in high-risk tasks such as welding, are increasing the urgency for rugged, autonomous humanoid robots.

Aiding such a transition, HD Hyundai announced a joint development agreement on March 23, and the signing ceremony took place at the HD Hyundai Global R&D Center in South Korea, marking a step forward in efforts to automate complex shipbuilding processes.

An earlier agreement was set in May 2025, following which successful evaluations of a humanoid prototype’s technical feasibility and real-world applicability were conducted.

Under the deal, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering will develop artificial intelligence-based welding training systems using data collected from shipyard operations and integrate them into production workflows.

HD Hyundai Robotics will oversee system integration, including quality analysis, control technologies, and field testing. Persona AI will focus on developing a bipedal humanoid platform capable of stable movement in challenging shipyard environments, reports The Korea Times.

The collaboration aims to produce robots capable of performing high-skill tasks such as welding, mobility, perception, and precision control, with gradual deployment planned across shipyard operations.

A prototype is targeted for completion by late 2026, followed by field testing and commercial deployment in 2027. The collaboration represents a significant step toward building smart shipyards where humans and robots operate side by side.

Automation meets labor

Robotics player Persona sees the partnership with HD Hyundai and its affiliates as a significant step beyond a symbolic collaboration, noting that shipyards are among the largest real-world testing environments for deploying and validating durable humanoid robotic systems.

Persona is positioning humanoid robots as a solution to skilled labor shortages in demanding industrial sectors. Its systems are designed for high-intensity environments and focus on “3D” tasks—dull, dirty, and dangerous—commonly found in shipyards, construction, and energy infrastructure, reducing the physical strain on human workers.

The company highlights a technological foundation influenced by advanced robotics developed through NASA, combining this legacy with practical engineering aimed at real-world deployment. Central to its approach is a modular humanoid platform equipped with a highly dexterous robotic hand derived from NASA-linked intellectual property, enabling precise work in complex, unstructured settings.

The platform uses interchangeable “Personas” that allow it to adapt across industries and tasks. In shipbuilding, the robots are designed for confined-space operations, hull welding and repair work, where workforce attrition in key trades can exceed 30 percent. In the energy sector, they support pipe welding, inspection, and maintenance as aging labor pools and automation reshape operations.

The company aims to deliver scalable, reliable labor through continuous operation, improved efficiency, and reduced rework, advancing automation in heavy industry.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com