Interstellar Sweet Tooth

First ‘true sugar’ molecule found in space — offering hints to life’s origins — Nature

Astronomers just detected erythrulose — a four-carbon sugar also found in raspberries and self-tanner — drifting in a molecular cloud near the center of the Milky Way. It’s the first true sugar ever found in interstellar space, formed with no star, planet, or life anywhere nearby.

The implication: some of the raw chemistry for life may have been floating around long before Earth existed, waiting for a comet to deliver it.