Could the sugar in our bodies have first come from space?
Astronomers have discovered the complex sugar erythrulose in a molecular cloud near the center of the Milky Way. This finding suggests that the chemical building blocks of life can form in space without the need for planetary environments.
Why it matters
It provides evidence that the essential ingredients for biological life may have been delivered to Earth via comets and asteroids, offering clues about the origins of life.
A: It is possible, though we don’t yet know for sure.
In fact, astronomers recently found a complex sugar in deep space for the first time. Using powerful radio telescopes, a team affiliated with institutes in Spain and five other countries spotted a complex sugar called erythrulose in a giant interstellar molecular cloud near the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. Their findings were published in Nature Astronomy on July 13.
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