Sugary find in deep space hints at origins of life

A sweet find in the depths of space could offer a clue as to the origins of all life on Earth - and, potentially, elsewhere.

Scientists have discovered a kind of sugar made from four carbon atoms, near the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, according to research published in the Nature Astronomy journal.

This kind of sugar, called erythrulose, is commonly found on Earth in raspberries and sunless tanning cream.

But the relevance of this new discovery goes beyond jam and cosmetics.

“The key ingredients for the origin of life could be present in other regions across the galaxy, opening the possibility for life to develop elsewhere in the universe,” study author Izaskun Jiménez-Serra told the Associated Press.

Sugars are an important part of living systems, helping to provide energy, build important biological structures, and form parts of genetic material.

But scientists for a long time have been unsure about how sugars came to Earth, as experiments have shown sugar molecules could not have formed in the environmental conditions offered by the young planet.

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Sugars such as ribose and glucose have been detected previously in meteorite and asteroid samples, which fostered the notion that they could have been delivered to Earth through space.

But this is the first time sugar has been directly detected in the void between stars and planets and other cosmic bodies.

It shows that complex and “biologically relevant” molecules can form in space and could contribute to the early steps of building life.

Jiménez-Serra and his colleagues detected the erythrulose in a large cloud of gas and dust near the centre of the galaxy.

It suggests that it may not have been necessary for hurtling space rocks to have delivered sugar to Earth - that the solar system may have provided what’s needed all along.