Ingredients of Life Found Around Sun-Like Star

smooth wombat writes "NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope has detected the basic organic building blocks of life in a ring orbiting in the 'habitable zone', that area where Earth orbits the Sun and where water exists on the borderline between gas and liquid, in a nearby stellar nursery. When acetylene and hydrogen cyanide combine with water they form adenine, one of the four bases of DNA. The detection supports the widely held theory that many of the molecular building blocks of life were present in the solar system even before planets formed, thus assisting the initial formation of complex organic molecules and the start of life itself." Though it was a little shakier than this observation, we've discussed the possibility of life elsewhere in the galaxy before.

Comments

"the borderline between gas and liquid"

[dirtsurfer]

Shouldn't it be where water exists on the borderline between gas and solid?

I would think liquid water would be just fine for life. It's always worked for me.

Re:News from Fark. Stuff that we already read

[Rude Turnip]

It's Not News, It's Slashdot.org

Couldn't resist :)