(1) “…it was a bacterium with the surprising ability to chemically alter the amino acids and sugars of the wrong handedness so as to make them digestible.”

This strongly suggests that the bacterium regularly encounters molecules of the wrong-handedness, but all known life produces molecules of the correct handedness. If there were a lot of the “wrong” molecules hanging around out there, then these conversion enzymes would be very common in bacteria. So where are the wrong molecules coming from?

(2) “The Murchison meteorite, a cometary remnant that fell in Australia in 1969, contained many common amino acids but also some unusual ones, such as isovaline and pseudoleucine. (Scientists are not sure how the amino acids formed in the meteorite, but most researchers believe that the chemicals were not produced by biological activity.)”

Complex organic compounds travel through space on rocks and crash onto planets. Should such a rock crash onto a primordial Earth-like planet, it could kickstart “life.” Thus there’s a good chance that life is common in the universe.