Astronomers find sugar near the creamy center of the Milky Way (no caramel, though)
First interstellar monosaccharide suggests some of life's ingredients may be scattered across the galaxy
Scientists have detected a sugar in interstellar space, suggesting the galaxy may be liberally sprinkled with some of life's chemical ingredients.
A new study shows that a sugar molecule containing four carbon atoms, called erythrulose, has been found near the center of the Milky Way, the first confirmed detection of a monosaccharide in the interstellar medium.
Living organisms use sugars as energy sources, structural components, and constituents of genetic material. While scientists have previously found ribose and glucose in meteorite and asteroid samples, indicating they also exist in space, monosaccharide forms of sugar in deep space had remained elusive – if we're not counting glycolaldehyde, which is often loosely described as the simplest sugar, or a sugar precursor.
Astrobiology researcher Izaskun Jiménez-Serra and her colleagues found the sugar in large clouds of gas and dust...
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