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Scientists Discover Interstellar ... Sugar?
Vicnice writes: "The discovery of simple sugars in the cosmos raises the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe a notch or two.
Specifically, the sugar molecules were located in a gas cloud near the center of our galaxy. From the National Radio Astronomy Observatory release: "The scientists identified glycolaldehyde by detecting six frequencies of radio emission in what is termed the millimeter-wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum -- a region between more-familiar microwaves and infrared radiation."
When speaking about how likely there are to be intelligent civilizations, people often refer to the Drake Equation. Carl Sagan thought that the equation showed that there should be a significant number of civilizations. Although a recent book, Rare Earth has called into question how probable civilizations are.
This is good news, though, adding a bit to the likelihood of their being other civilizations out there somewhere.
-- dR.fuZZo
You have to bear in mind that this is a text based medium,sarcasm is hard to spot.
;-)
But that's precisely what's so beautiful about it - you have only the words themselves to interpret what the poster really means. It such an encounter was face-to-face, this form of humor would be impossible. Either you use a sarcastic tone of voice, making it obvious to all, or you use a sincere tone, which screws it all up unless it is done perfectly. I love extracting meaning from this kind of stuff based on what is left unsaid.
I guess my original plan was to post something likely to attract posts arguing with it, and then to those posts I would respond with something so outrageous that they would know I wasn't serious. When people still didn't grasp it, I upped it even more. After reading the resulting replies, I got frustrated as all heck
Oh well, if some people laughed, it served its purpose. It sucks that all I get to see is the negative reactions.
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grappler
Vidi, Vici, Veni
Actually, I know nothing about www.newlifetoday.com - I went on a short hunt for a suitably rediculous, preachy, evangelical, and patronizing site that would fit the mood of the post. When I found www.newlife.com, my hunt was over.
For your enjoyment, you can also check out www.wwjd.com, which presents a silly attempt at a new "hip", "totally rad", "awesome" and "amazing" face for Christianity, thus making it "cool" and "with it".
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grappler
Vidi, Vici, Veni
It's not really that difficult. If you can detect the could in the first place, you can get a spectrograph of the radiation coming from it. All chemical compounds have a unique spectrographic fingerprint (though they might sometimes get lost in the noise of other compounds) and thus can be easily detected.
This is how helium was first discovered: somebody took a spectrogram of the sun and found some interesting spectral lines in it, applied some theory or other, and came up with helium.
Bill - aka taniwha
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Leave others their otherness. -- Aratak
It is a good thing to be sceptical, as long as you aren't also stubborn ^^
Spectral analysis of the cloud and doing a statistical match; if the cloud absorbs several frequencies in the right proportions as a sugar, there is a good chance(not absolute) that there exists a sugar. But this doesn't rule out that there is something there *other* than sugar, just that there are things that have the same bond energies and structure as a sugar...
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
I don't know about you, but once they find caffiene among the stars, I'll accept that extraterrestrial intelligence must exist. Until then, how can they stay up all night coding? I'm not even sure Terrestrial intelligence could continue without good-old 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine.
Visit me on #weirdness on the Galaxynet.
It's still spectral analysis.
The electrons jump up and down levels on, say, copper, absorbing and emitting photons.
However, the bonds between two carbon atoms are nothing more than electrons sharing the space between the two; they can *also* rearrange themselves in the energy configuration, and absorb and emit energies as well, but in different manners.
So they detected the emission of radio frequencies when the sugar molecule rearranged itself. As it absorbed energy from space, it enters into higher energy states. When it 'emits' energy, it enters into a lower energy state. Statistically then, the combination of the energy spectra forms a pattern fairly unique to the sugar.
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
That's why Genetically Engineered "Smart Mice"[tm] use real interstellar sugar!
Stay up hacking each weekend. Sleep is for the week.
Burris
On the assumption that the light emitted is mostly the product of, say, stars. Hydrogen and helium have (I think) pretty well mapped out spectra. You can red and blue shift all you like, but the spectra looks the same, if a bit shifted in either direction.
So you can use those two elements as landmarks to determine the sugar molecules.
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
Are you the same racist Troll i had to smack down a couple of weeks back in a diferent Thread? Thank God (Whoops) you don't get about much. Must be devine intervention (Oh hell [Dang] there i go again). Oh, and as you seem to like using your +1 Bonus when it's inapropriate, i guess i'll use mine too. I won't be arguing with you any more, can't stand racists.
Syllable : It's an Operating System
Grsyzylax, Imperial Grand Jester of the Chef Nebula, declined to comment.
Stay up hacking each weekend. Sleep is for the week.
I am trying my hardest to avoid any Mars puns....
Interstellar aspartame would be a wonderful discovery, inasmuch as aspartame consists of the two amino acids phenylalanine and aspartic acid. Amino acids aggregate into proteins, and we all know what proteins are good for; if it's extraterrestrial/interstellar life, then it's likely/perhaps cold and could use some enzymes.
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
I don't think that its a hoax. A sugar molecule is a resonably simple CHO compound and given the amount of Carbod Hydrogen and Oxygen around in the universe I would say that its a safe bet that there is sugar out there.
What *IS* a surprise is that there is sugar in large enough quantites to be detected.
As for how they were detected, the article says:
The discovery was made by detecting faint radio emission from the sugar molecules in the interstellar cloud. Molecules rotate end-for-end, and as they change from one rotational energy state to another, they emit radio waves at precise frequencies. The "family" of radio frequencies emitted by a particular molecule forms a unique "fingerprint" that scientists can use to identify that molecule. The scientists identified glycolaldehyde by detecting six frequencies of radio emission in what is termed the millimeter-wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum -- a region between more-familiar microwaves and infrared radiation.
So, as the article says, they used a bit of spectrography (or radio spec as the case is). Its the same way that Helium was discovered in the sun before it was discovered on earth. (Helios --> meaning "sun" hence Helium.)
According to the article and the information presented therin I would find it unlikely that it is a hoax. The beauty of a thing like this (and science in general) is that anyone else with a telescope capable of detecting this and a radio spectrometer can verify the results. Now, I don't have one. Still, I do know people who work at the Dominion Radio Astronomical Obseratory here in central B.C.
Now, I am not going to go ask my friends to verify this - its just not worth my time. It does however show a good point: Good science can be replicated. You can bet that there are other scientists that upon seeing this result will point their telescopes at this portion of the sky and check.
Myself, I would put money on this being good science and not bad science from the general tone of the article. It seems that the scientific method was followed, and a discovery was unvelied.
In the end, even bad science turns into good science. It just takes time.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
hehe, btw, nice ascii schematics
Now, what's really cool about this finding (and several others) is not that there's stuff that's identical to what we have on Earth in comets etc., but all this adds up to much higher chances for life coming into existence other places in the universe.
The three most important recent and/or semi-recent discoveries in this area are (IMO) the discovery that simple sugars exist in the interstellar medium, the discovery that asteroids contain salts, and the discovery (this is older) that comets contain amino acids. Put these things together and you get some INCREDIBLY interesting chemistry. Sugars and a phosphate salt form the backbone of nucleic acids (like DNA), sugars are a great source of energy as well as a great way to store it, simple strings of amino acids can do amazing things, when amino acid strings get long and complicated enough we call them proteins.
These discoveries show that the fundamental elements of the goo that is required for life to emerge is present throughout the universe and in fairly high abundance. This means that provided a good place to "stew" for a while (which may be rare, we do not fully know yet) the chances for life coming about are very high indeed.
Less than 50 years ago we had only a vague understanding of the factors that went into determing how rare / plentiful life and intelligent beings other than our own were in our universe. Now, we have narrowed down the ranges and gotten a good handle on most of these factors. A lot of this information has come in the last 5 to 10 years! There are now many more planets known to exist outside our good ol' Solar System than inside it, we now know of 2 other places inside our Solar System that have a good chance of being suitable places for life to exist, we know that almost any place that is suitable for life to exist on will most likely be deluged (relatively speaking) with the raw essence of the basics of life. This is truly an amazing time to be alive.
Only if you are American...
This is the dozenth or so time I've seen stupid spelling flames like this.
I'm half-tempted to adopt British spelling, to add a certain colour to my prose. I recognise that this may annoy some people left-of-centre of the IQ bell-curve, but I recommend they have a gin-and-tonic and bloody well bugger off, the bally wankers.
Space sugars won't change the probability of extraterrestrial life, until they discover space toothpaste. Otherwise, Fred Hoyle's Black Clouds will all get tooth rot & die. (Or solve the mysteries of the Universe and spontaneously explode... :)
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Sugars aren't "strings of amino acids strung together." Glucose and other sugars are strings of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen, whilst amino acids contain nitrogen. If you don't know about a subject, you should simply not speak on that subject.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Cosmic sugar found
Glycolaldehyde? how strange
Why not...galactose?
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You are in a twisty little maze of open source licenses, all different.
Try opening a book everyonce in a while -hmmm
I'm half-tempted to adopt British spelling
I realize this might be controversial, but I suggest using a mixture of American and British spelling, and throwing in some olde english, and perhaps "nyew fonetik english" as well, just to give all ye grammar nazis a coronary.
Is there anything funnier or more colourful than a spelling troll or grammar nazi twitching on the ground, lost in the throes of a severe stroke?
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
Restraint may be a prerequisite for racial survival.
In other words, any species capable of surviving long enough to colonize another star may have done so only be learning restraint and respect for diversity: necessary lessons if they are not to destroy the very ecosystem which sustains their existence on the home world, not to mention avoid destroying themselves in petty conflicts.
Such a species would find the notion of exponential growth intolerable: it would wipe out all other cultures and life forms in the galaxy in favor of their own, destroying biological and cultural diversity and, quite possibly, destroying the one species with the necessary insight to survive the next galaxy-wide cataclysm (e.g. 3 billion years from now, when the Milky Way and Andromeda are expected to collide).
While humans are, as a rule, incapable of thinking in such terms and along such time scales, it is likely that a species able to survive sufficiently long to colonize other stars would take such considerations very seriously, and restrain their own growth accordingly.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
Some organic chemistry, simplified
Types of elements used in life
- the four elements HCNO comprise 95% of living matter (Table 7.1)
- these elements are relatively abundant in the universe, therefore the basic composition of life is not itself a barrier
- these elements have chemical properties which make them advantageous for use in life
- carbon can form four bonds
- carbon bonds with CNO are fairly strong (Figure 7.1)
- C-N, C=N, C-O, C=O
- oxygen readily reacts with carbon
- both O and N exist as gases in the atmosphere which allows them to cycle through the environment (in solid and liquid form)
- the abundance of "other" elements in life (e.g., Ca, P) resembles the abundance in sea water
- this observation suggests that life arose in the oceans
- these elements are used in small proportions and serve very specific functions, e.g., Zn in insulin and Fe in hemoglobin
- indicative of a complex interaction between life and the environment
Molecular Structures- life (1) stores and (2) transmits genetic information using polymers
- a polymer is a molecule consisting of the repeated pattern of a small unit, where the units are called monomers
- example: A-A-A-A-A-A is a polymer of the "A" monomer
- example: A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B is a polymer, and both A and B are monomers
- see Figure 7.3
- these polymers store and transmit information by varying (1) the elemental composition and (2) the structure (or shape) of the molecule
- shape - the shape of a polymer can aid (speed up) chemical reactions that would otherwise occur slowly
- these aids are called catalysts
- in life processes, catalysts are called enzymes
- life shows a high degree of selectivity in the compounds it uses and in the shape of those compounds (Figure 7.2)
- example - only 20 amino acids are commonly used out of nearly countless numbers (Figure 7.7 and Table 7.2)
- amino acids are the monomers used to construct polymers called proteins
Reproduction at the molecular level- reproduction relies upon DNA and RNA polymers
- DNA = deoxyribonucleic acid
- RNA = ribonucleic acid
- Note - RNA is not directly involved in the reproductive process, it acts as an intermediary
- DNA (1) stores genetic information and (2) oversees the construction of proteins
- genetic information tells the next generation how to grow, reproduce and carry on with life activities
- DNA is a polymer
- it is made up of monomers called nucleotides (Figure 7.4)
- a nucleotide is a molecule containing:
- sugar + phosphate (PO4) + base
- "base" as opposed to an "acid"
- there are four bases:
- adenine (A)
- guanine (G)
- cytosine (C)
- thymine (T)
- there is a fifth base called uracil (U) that is not used by DNA
- DNA is in the shape of a twisted ladder, called a double helix (Figure 7.5)
- the rungs of the latter are made of two bases, called a base pair
- the base pairs cannot link randomly, rather, only A-T and G-C pairs are possible
Manufacture of proteins- DNA is also responsible for manufacturing proteins
- Note - these three statements, which were in the original document, can be deleted. It is important to know that the base-triplets are used to determine which amino acid is placed in a protein.
- the two strands of DNA can split (Figure 7.6)
- each strand can capture free-floating amino acids which, when complete, break away from the strand to become a free-floating protein
- each amino acid bonds to the DNA molecule using 3 adjacent bases (three of ACGT, e.g., "AAC")
- the allowance is for 4x4x4 = 64 distinct amino acids
- life uses only 20 amino acids
- the remaining (extra) base-triplets are used for redundancy and for a "stop" command
- DNA manufactures proteins that use between 100-500 triplets of bases
- sequences that are significant to the organism are called genes (Table 7.3)
- by splitting down the middle, DNA replicates itself "exactly" due to the unique pairing ability of the nucleotide bases, A-T and G-C
- DNA does not perform the actual synthesis of proteins
- rather, DNA serves as the blueprint
- DNA forms RNA, which is a "working copy" of the gene or protein it wishes to produce
- the RNA does the actual manufacture of proteins by capturing free amino acids
- Note - this statement is not quite correct. The RNA is recognized by a ribosome, which translates the RNA message into a protein using the base triplets. My dictionay (online Webster's) defines "ribosome" as "any of the RNA-rich cytoplasmic granules that are sites of protein synthesis".
- RNA replaces thymine (T) with uracil (U) in its structure
RNA World Theory- DNA uses RNA to manufacture proteins
- RNA resembles a single strand of DNA, i.e., a "half ladder" (DNA split down the middle)
- RNA can catalyze itself, or act as its own enzyme in reproduction
- researchers think that RNA came first in our evolutionary sequence, the RNA world theory (pg 199)
- current research tries to explore the formation of RNA
Mutation- sometimes there is a change in the sequence of nucleotide bases, a mutation
- causes -
- high energy photons (gamma rays)
- high energy particles (cosmic ray particles)
- chemical agents (mutagens)
- error in the DNA copying mechanism - somewhat rare
- the error causes an incorrect amino acid to be entered into a protein
- Note - there are other possible effects, however, only the one we are interested in is described here
- Note - the physical cause of the mutation is that an entire base pair can be knocked out of the molecule, while allowing the molecule itself to remain intact.
- many mutations are neutral, but some will harm or help the organism
- "help" means "more successful in reproduction"
- over time, favourable mutations will dominate the genetic material of a species, called natural selection
Carbon versus silicon- the need for complex molecules is best met by molecules that can bond the most number of times - four bonds - includes carbon, silicon, germanium, titanium and others
- carbon and silicon are the most abundant
- silicon forms weaker bonds: Si-Si-Si is unstable and will tend to break apart
- stable forms of silicon do not participate easily in chemical reactions
- silicon reacts with oxygen readily to form silicon dioxide (SiO2), which is stable (too much so) and unreactive
- it is a solid that is not soluble in water, hence it is difficult to cycle silicon through the environment
- the Si equivalent of methane (CH4) is silane (SiH4) which spontaneously bursts into fire when exposed to oxygen
- hence, silicon is inferior to carbon since it does not form complex molecules, but rather gets locked up in small, stable molecules that are unreactive
- despite these properties, silicon-based life is popular with science fiction authors
- other elements that can form four bonds have very low abundances, which is unfavourable for life
Miller-Urey experimentsYou can't handle the truth.
To answer the first question, it is a massive cloud of the same molecules, not just one.
So essentially it works like this:
Really bright light source with a know chemical composition(stars being mostly hydrogen and helium count) emit light and energy.
A sugar is composed of bonds between carbons, oxygens, hydrogens, etc.
The bond between two atoms is a like a spring; it can store energy, or it can release energy. In a laser, you structure it to release energy of certain wavelengths. In this case, the bond will absorb these certain wavelengths out of the light put out by the star.
So if 15 different wavelengths are subtracted out from the spectra at certain intensities, we can create an image from this light.
If we take a light source of the same composition(in the lab or something) and place, say, a sugar laden gas in front of it, and get *the same* spectra, we can conclude with *some* certainty that sugar exists in the first case too. Sorta vague only because you are identifying by shadows... but it is an accepted method of identifying chemical composition
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
Sugars and protiens, AFAIK, have a lot in common. It seems to me that these sugars could suggest a carbon-based-life-friendly environment, but do not necessarily prove that there is life
Sorry to say, but sugars and proteins don't really have much in common at all. Proteins are large molecular chains of many, many amino acids strung together. Sugars are on approximately the same scale of complexity as amino acids themselves; generally sugars are short, fully saturated carbon chains (5-6C is very common) with hydroxyl (-OH) groups bound to them. Also, a double-bonded oxygen is present, making the sugar either an aldehyde (the sugar is on C1) or a ketone (the sugar is not at the end). This can reversibly condense with the alcohol at the far end of the molecule, forming stable 5 or 6 membered rings. Of course these can then be polymerized to make longer carbohydrates such as cellulose, starch etc.
The glycoaldehyde in the article is a *very* simple sugar molecule, even when compared to ones we deal with every day such as glucose. Having only two carbon atoms, it's far too small to even form a simple ring structure. The chances of this type of molecule forming through "normal" chemical processes in nebulae are about the same (if not better) than those of other organic molecules known to be present there.
It's only software!
One, what are the "agreed upon" values for each variable in Drake's Equation?
Two, since our "communicative" span may be about 100 years from first radio transmissions to adoption of less leaky cable/internet/laser stuff, how low is the fb (fraction of time the society is using broadcasting technologies)?
Three, if we DO hear something, do we assume that we'll hear someone out there, during their 100 year burst of transmissions, and then be able to visit them, given that time/space curvature puts their race far ahead of ours?
[
It's interesting to note that the scientists were talking about the building blocks of life seem to be being formed before the planets that host that life. Kind of makes you wonder if there are some interesting life forms living in the gas cloud independent of any one planet or star.
Bill - aka taniwha
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Leave others their otherness. -- Aratak
this doesn't surprise me at all. it's a wee bit off topic, but i expect that we'll be finding more and more things like this as time progresses. there's a good book by isaac asimov called "extraterrestrial civilzations" i believe and in it he speculates on the existance of other intelligent life in the universe. it seems ridiculous to assume that we're alone, so i guess things like these don't surprise me. anyway, i'd be interested in where this discovery leads and what we can make of it.
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DeCSS source code!
you must amputate to email me.
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you must amputate to email me
i read all replies to my comments
I'm convinced now it won't be long before scientists find full-fledged "space twinkies"... mmmmm.....
-colin
-Colin
the Milky Way (hardy har har). Seriously, think of how much you could get for that stuff. Most expensive cookies I ever saw, man.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
(What's the I hear? That groaning sound...)
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Forgive me Lubeck Streyer (aka 'lubie-babie', when I was in molecular bio) and St. Lehninger, for the sins I am about to commit...
.......H............ ....HO-C-H..___. .....__....... ........\../...| ... /..\...... ......HO-C.....| ....\__/\..... ......HO-C-H...| .........\__.. ......HO-C-H...| ........./..\. ......HO-C-H...| .........\__/. .......H-C-OH..| .............. ..........\____| ...Table Sugar
I really feel I ought to explain what they are calling 'sugars' here -- it's a biochemical term that (very crudely) boils down to 'a chain of carbons with water attached' -- only the 'water' has broken into two parts ( HOH => H + OH ) and these two parts connect to the carbon, instead of each other. you can think of a 'sugar' as a chain of carbon groups that look like HO-C-H and are connected to each other at by the carbons like this:
......._____.
....../.....|
...HO-C-H...|
...HO-C-H...|
...HO-C-H...|
...HO-C-H...|
...HO-C-H...|
....H-C-OH..|
......\_____|
The big loop just indicates that the carbons are generally in a ring. The second figure indicates that not all of the carbons are always in the ring. The last HO-C-H group is backwards to indicate that major difference between many sugars of the same size is simply whether each -OH group points up or down when we lay the ring flat. "up-up-down-up-up-up" is one sugar, but "up-up-up-down-up-up" is different sugar (they may seem like reflections, but trust me, in a 3-D ring, they aren't)
The 'well-known sugars' (most of which you've never heard of) have carbon chain lengths from 3 carbons (e.g. triose) up to seven carbons (e.g. sedheptulose). However, the 'familiar sugars' are usually based on a six carbon (glucose, fructose, etc.) or five-carbon (ribose) ring. Table sugar (sucrose) consists of *two* six carbon sugars connected together. Chains of sugars longer than two can be very 'un-sugar-like' -- cellulose (wood fiber) is nothing but long linked chains of glucose (blood sugar) while glycogen (a stored fuel in your liver) is also just branched chains of glucose, but is very different physically.
Glucose (blood sugar) or fructose (fruit sugar) are C6-H12-O6. Table sugar (sucrose) is C12-H22-O12. In space conditions, it might be useful to think of carbon chain lengths as being like stacked blocks -- the kind children play with. Generally stacking two blocks is easy, but six is more than three times as hard (it tends to fall apart easily)
The so-called "sugar" they found in space is two carbons long (glycoaldehyde C2-H4-O2) and is very unlike the six-carbon (okay, 5-7) sugars we usually think of. In biochemistry, it isn't generally called a sugar at all. Three carbons was a sort of bottom limit to be sugar like, because the 'ends' often have an extra hydrogen, and a two carbon 'sugar' would be nothing but 'end' and can't form a ring. It's not very 'sugar-like'. It is an extremely simple molecule, that would be easy to make ("stack") by random, and it looks like this (where the = means a double bond)
......H.H.... -- glycoaldehyde,
...HO-C-C=O.. -- the so-called
......H.H.... -- "space sugar"
You can find more info at these pages:
The structure and function of macromolecules (an outline)
Some sketches of various sugars (let the pictures load before scrolling, or you'll lose your place)
If you can go to bed, knowing you did a valuable thing today, you're very lucky. If you can't... it's not bedtime
Remember that Drake just calculates the expected number of independent civilizations arising. The authors of one of the SA articles seem to think that at least some of these civilizations would colonize the galaxy recursively. I.e., send ships to two nearby stars, spending several decades at maybe 10% of the speed of light, spend a few hundred or thousand years bringing the foundations up to space capabilities, and then have each of them launch two child civilizations. This gives exponential growth; plausible parameters indicate that such a civilization would gobble up the whole galaxy in "only" a few million years. So why hasn't it happened?
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Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
...Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope discoverd intergalactic coffee. There is now speculation that the Big Bang was a result of the early universe being excessively "wired". Starbucks executives declined to comment.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Oh, great.. it was bad enough when they wanted to put a huge coca-cola sign in space which would be several thousand meters long and glow at night.. now what - are we going to put a billboard up in space that says "ATTENTION: We know you're out there. Come on over for the best chocolate in the solar system!" ??
Some hungry lab flunky left his half eaten Kit Kat on the radio telescope.
This sig is false.
It's not leftover from the Big Bang; it's a sugar buzz!
As far as I know, this doesn't seem particularly ground-breaking. While it's great to find it since it's really just another step in the right direction of trying to deduce that there is life out there, it's not a particularly massive breakthrough... Scientists have known the existance of amino-acids in inter-stellar objects for quite sometime now and they actually are quite common even. I have NFI about Chemistry but as far as i know glucose is just a string of amino acids strung together. As amino acids were so common, it wasd really just a matter of time before we found sth
Trying to convert someone to your religion is like coughing on your friends when you have a cold.
Some people are infected with the Christianity meme, and some people have a memetic defense against that sort of nonsense.
These two groups of people can do little more that argue with one another. It's not worth the time for either of them.
Let it go already. Move on.
By spectral analysis, that's how. In this case, the analysis was on radio waves. In essence, they didn't "see" the molecules, they detected them. While the results may not be accurate, I wouldn't call them a hoax.
And yes, I know you're not the real timothy. All you have to do is look at the source of a page you've posted on and you'll see the special character after the 'i'.
"Mission to Mars" already predicted this, showing us that Dr. Pepper and M&M's exist in high quantity in space.