How sugar from outer space became one of the backbones of life on Earth - The Conversation
Researchers are investigating how sugars from outer space may have contributed to the origins of life on Earth. The study explores how these molecules could have survived and functioned as a backbone for early biological structures like RNA.
Why it matters
Provides scientific insight into the fundamental chemical processes that allowed life to emerge on our planet.
Avidha Raha / Getty Images How sugar from outer space became one of the backbones of life on Earth Published: September 29, 2026 3:53pm EDT https://theconversation.com/how-sugar-from-outer-space-became-one-of-the-backbones-of-life-on-earth-293089 https://theconversation.com/how-sugar-from-outer-space-became-one-of-the-backbones-of-life-on-earth-293089 Link copied Share article Share article
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Is there life elsewhere, or is Earth unique in the universe? This is one of humanity’s great unanswered questions.
One way to approach this mystery is to investigate how life began here on Earth. Our research explores the conditions where a mixture of molecules somehow transformed from chemistry into biology.
In a new study published in Scientific Reports, we shed new light on one possible step in this process: how a fragile sugar from outer space may have helped create the conditions for its own survival on Earth, where it eventually became the backbone of one of life’s most important molecules.
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