Vitamin B3 is one of the most essential nutrients for life on Earth. It is used to build NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), a vital component to metabolism, and probably a necessary element for the beginnings of life on our planet. But now new NASA-funded research suggests that much of the vitamin B3 found on Earth may actually have an extraterrestrial origin.
The study builds on previous research which found that vitamin B3 is present in carbon-rich meteorites at concentrations ranging from about 30 to 600 parts-per-billion. Scientists were even able to reproduce these results in a lab designed to simulate space-like conditions. Vitamin B3 was produced from a mixture of pyridine, a basic organic compound, and carbon dioxide ice.
Well, that explains it. ;-) To read more, click here.