How Did We Find Sugar in Space?
It's the same sugar found in strawberries and raspberries on Earth.
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Transcript
Izaskun: So we have detected the first true sugar in space. And the sugar is erythrulose.
Izaskun: This erythrulose is actually the sugar that one can find in raspberries, or in other red fruits such as strawberries. I've read recently also that in melons you can find erythrulose.
Izaskun: There’s a lot of interest in finding these sugars in outer space.
Izaskun: These sugars are basically the backbone of these RNA and DNA, which are essential biomolecules for life. And we also use sugars to basically obtain energy for our metabolism. So that’s why they are so important ingredients for living organisms.
Izaskun: For a long while, I have been searching for sugars with three carbon atoms, which are the simplest sugars, without success.
Izaskun: I met Emilio, and then he said, “Listen, we have measured this sugar with four carbon atoms in our lab. Would you like to have a look at it?”
Izaskun: And then, to my surprise, when I started seeing, you know, that all these signals were matching very nicely, I was so excited. I was so happy. Like, I couldn’t believe it. I was like, oh my God.
Izaskun: And then, you know, a minute later, I said, okay, wait, wait, you need to cool down. We need to check, double-check, triple-check that everything, is correct and that this sugar is definitely there.
Izaskun: So this sugar, together with other organic compounds, could be incorporated into asteroids, meteorites, and comets. And we know that Earth experienced what we call the Late Heavy Bombardment period, in which there were a lot of meteorites, asteroids, and comets impacting on the surface of Earth. And therefore, they could have brought large amounts of these organic compounds to the surface.
Izaskun: This Late Heavy Bombardment period occurred between 4.1 and 3.8 billion years ago. We know that life emerged a little later. So that’s why it is believed that this period of heavy bombardment was critical or was key for the origin of life.
Izaskun: If we have found it in this molecular cloud, very close to the galactic center, it can form in all the clouds across the galaxy. So that opens up the possibility of finding or having these ingredients for life in other young planetary systems.
Izaskun: Now we want to understand how these sugars form and the chemistry of these sugars, how complex they can become.
Izaskun: I think the community now is going to start looking for these sugars in other molecular clouds across the galaxy.
Izaskun: So we want to see whether space is very, very sweet.
Izaskun: This erythrulose is actually the sugar that one can find in raspberries, or in other red fruits such as strawberries. I've read recently also that in melons you can find erythrulose.
Izaskun: There’s a lot of interest in finding these sugars in outer space.
Izaskun: These sugars are basically the backbone of these RNA and DNA, which are essential biomolecules for life. And we also use sugars to basically obtain energy for our metabolism. So that’s why they are so important ingredients for living organisms.
Izaskun: For a long while, I have been searching for sugars with three carbon atoms, which are the simplest sugars, without success.
Izaskun: I met Emilio, and then he said, “Listen, we have measured this sugar with four carbon atoms in our lab. Would you like to have a look at it?”
Izaskun: And then, to my surprise, when I started seeing, you know, that all these signals were matching very nicely, I was so excited. I was so happy. Like, I couldn’t believe it. I was like, oh my God.
Izaskun: And then, you know, a minute later, I said, okay, wait, wait, you need to cool down. We need to check, double-check, triple-check that everything, is correct and that this sugar is definitely there.
Izaskun: So this sugar, together with other organic compounds, could be incorporated into asteroids, meteorites, and comets. And we know that Earth experienced what we call the Late Heavy Bombardment period, in which there were a lot of meteorites, asteroids, and comets impacting on the surface of Earth. And therefore, they could have brought large amounts of these organic compounds to the surface.
Izaskun: This Late Heavy Bombardment period occurred between 4.1 and 3.8 billion years ago. We know that life emerged a little later. So that’s why it is believed that this period of heavy bombardment was critical or was key for the origin of life.
Izaskun: If we have found it in this molecular cloud, very close to the galactic center, it can form in all the clouds across the galaxy. So that opens up the possibility of finding or having these ingredients for life in other young planetary systems.
Izaskun: Now we want to understand how these sugars form and the chemistry of these sugars, how complex they can become.
Izaskun: I think the community now is going to start looking for these sugars in other molecular clouds across the galaxy.
Izaskun: So we want to see whether space is very, very sweet.
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