Link: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-spot-sugar-in-interstellar-space-for-the-first-time-ever/

Archived link

Erythrulose, a sugar found in raspberries, kiwis and many red fruits, also apparently exists in a giant molecular cloud of gas and dust near the center of our galaxy, some 26,745 light-years from Earth. This marks the first time a sugar has been seen in interstellar space. The results have been published in Nature Astronomy

Sweet!

mmmmm space sugar

Is this the first calorie source found in space?

just add yeast and water.

A lil sweetener pack in gods cup o’ joe

Milky Way IPA, because we already named a bunch of hops after space names

So uh. What are the implications about extraterrestrial life here? Are there ways to make massive amounts of sugar that are non-biological?

I'm getting some subtle optical illusion effect from the thumbnail. It's a bit like this.

I can imagine a small amount being created by happenstance but not a large amount

Or just skip to the end

The dust that pervades the cloud’s cold, dark depths is key. Dust offers surfaces for atoms and molecules to glom onto, allowing them to become larger and more complex; it also blocks ultraviolet radiation and other high-energy light that could otherwise tear apart bigger compounds as they grow. Deeper in the clouds, more dust blocks more radiation, temperatures drop, and water and carbon dioxide ices coat the dust grains, along with molecules of increasing complexity.

A moment on the lips, 1x10^18^ seconds on the hips.

Dude!

Sweet!

Must... protect... sugar. Thieves everywhere. The strong must protect the sweet. The sweet...
In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women.
Hey! Get off my sugar! Bad bees! Bad!
Ow! Ow!! Oh, they're defending themselves somehow!

As a biologist, I have a guess, but take it as an informed guess : Pseudo-panspermia is a hypothesis in which life on Earth was created because organic molecules already existed in the universe, and fell on Earth, where the conditions were right for the processes that generate life, like a primordial soup. Discovering complex molecules in space supports the Pseudo-panspermia hypothesis, and if this process happened on Earth, it is possible that it happened in other planets where the conditions were also right.

What's mine say?

Welcome to the frosted zone

This explains the alcohol nebula.

So based on my experience it will be a cloud of mold next week

Don't tell my son.