Briny Hillsborough meteorite hints at life's origins
A 50 kg Hillsborough meteorite that crashed into a New Jersey home in 2024 is classified as a CM1/2 carbonaceous chondrite from a briny, water-bearing asteroid. Its fragments contain organic compounds and amino acids formed with minerals, and salty inclusions suggest near-surface brine on its parent body. The findings, published in Science Advances, imply water–rock interactions on the asteroid contributed to the meteoritic chemistry that could illuminate how life's building blocks formed on Earth; some fragments will be displayed at the American Museum of Natural History.