An amino acid, one of the essential ingredients to life on Earth, has been found in a comet for the first time , NASA reports.Scientists concluded nearly two years of thorough research on comet samples returned by the Stardust probe to confirm that glycine — one of 20 known amino acids that form the building blocks for life on Earth — was in the comet Wild 2, and not the result of terrestrial contamination.

The  discovery was made by Stardust science probe which flew by Comet Wild 2 in January 2004 and gathered samples that were parachuted in a capsule back to Earth two years later.

read on