First sugar molecule detected in Milky Way cloud

An international team of researchers has announced the first detection of a true sugar in interstellar space. The molecule, identified as erythrose, was found within a gas and dust cloud located near the center of the Milky Way galaxy. This finding, published in Nature Astronomy, challenges existing astrochemistry models and suggests that relatively complex sugars can form in the conditions predating the birth of stars and planets. Erythrose, a four-carbon sugar, is known on Earth for its presence in raspberries and its use in cosmetic products like self-tanners. The discovery was made in the molecular cloud G+0.693−0.027 using data from radio telescopes in Spain. Scientists analyzed radio signals from the cloud and compared them to laboratory measurements of erythrose. The detection was unexpected, as prevailing theories suggested interstellar molecules grow by adding carbon atoms sequentially. The study's models propose an alternative pathway: the combination of two-carbon organic fragments. While over 340 molecules have been identified in interstellar space previously, none were classified as true sugars. Glycolaldehyde, previously called the 'simplest sugar,' is chemically a hydroxyaldehyde, not a saccharide. This discovery reinforces the hypothesis that the basic components for life's formation might have existed before the planets themselves. However, researchers caution that this finding does not prove life originated in space or that erythrose directly led to the first organisms.