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Sugar is Sweet, Essential to Life — and It's Probably in Deep Space
[...] New research suggests that the sugar molecule that puts the "D" in DNA — 2-deoxyribose — could exist in the far reaches of space. A team of NASA astrophysicists were able to create DNA's sugar in laboratory conditions that mimic interstellar space.
The researchers believe their results, published on Tuesday [open, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07693-x] [DX] in Nature Communications, show that yet another of life's critical chemical building blocks could be widespread in the universe and potentially seed other planets as well.
"We don't yet know whether life is common in the universe, but we're pretty sure the presence of life's building blocks is not a limiting factor," said Michel Nuevo, a researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley and the lead author of the paper.
The results represent the first solid evidence of the formation of DNA's sugar in an astrophysical setting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 31 2018, @11:51AM
The creator jacked off in a frying pan, then slung it out across the universe. There's life everywhere, people!