In a First, Astronomers Find Sugar in the Space Between Stars, Providing New Clues About the Origins of Life on Earth
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Scientists have made a sweet discovery near the heart of our Milky Way galaxy, spotting a sugar molecule in the space between stars for the first time. Erythrulose, a sugar found in raspberries and self-tanners, was detected in a part of space known as the interstellar medium.
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Scientists have made a sweet discovery near the heart of our Milky Way galaxy, spotting a sugar molecule in the space between stars for the first time. Erythrulose, a sugar found in raspberries and self-tanners, was detected in a part of space known as the interstellar medium. The findings, published in the journal Nature Astronomy on July 13, are more than a little treat: They could help us understand how life may have emerged on Earth—and how it might pop up elsewhere in the universe. “This is the very first sugar to be detected in interstellar space, and it is important because it tells us that these sugars are more common than we previously thought,” says Izaskun Jiménez-Serra, a study co-author and an astrochemist at the Center for Astrobiology in Spain, to Ian Sample at the Guardian.
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- Scientists have made a sweet discovery near the heart of our Milky Way galaxy, spotting a sugar molecule in the space between stars for the first time. Erythrulose, a sugar found in raspberries and self-tanners, was detected in a part of space known as the interstellar medium.
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In a First, Astronomers Find Sugar in the Space Between Stars, Providing New Clues About the Origins of Life on Earth
Sources1TypeCoverageSmithsonian