Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.
. Yet how Purdue University came to possess the stone and who delivered it to the university has been unknown for 90 years. Now, scientists analyzing the meteorite say that a strange compound found in it could be the clue that cracks the case.
"Lafayette is a truly beautiful meteorite sample, which has taught us a lot about Mars through previous research," O'Brien said in a."Part of what has made it so valuable is that it's remarkably well-preserved, which means it must have been recovered quickly after it landed." "The unusual combination of Lafayette's swift protection from the elements and the tiny trace of contamination which it picked up during its brief time in the mud is what made this work possible," she said. The team began sleuthing by crushing a tiny sample of the meteorite and analyzing it with a spectrometer, an instrument that searches for the unique chemical 'fingerprints' of elements and compounds.
O'Brien mentioned the DON detection to a colleague familiar with the discovery story of Lafayette, who noted that DON could have found its way to the meteorite via dust from crops that found its way to waterways around where the rock made its muddy splashdown in Tippecanoe County, Indiana.