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Space Sugar Discovered In Binary System Star
SchrodingerZ writes "Sweet tooths rejoice! 400 light years from Earth in the constellation Ophiuchus, sugar molecules have been confirmed in a gas cloud surrounding a young star. The star, IRAS 16293-2422, though early in its life is relativity close to the size of our Sun. It is part of a Binary star system. '"In the disk of gas and dust surrounding this newly formed star, we found glycolaldehyde, which is a simple form of sugar, not much different to the sugar we put in coffee," study lead author Jes Jorgensen, of the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark, said in a statement.' Glycolaldehyde has been found before in space, but never this close to a Sun-like planet. In fact 'the molecules are about the same distance away from the star as the planet Uranus is from our sun.' This discovery proves that the building blocks of life could have possibly existed in the earlier parts of our own solar system. This particular sugar reacts with propenal to form ribose, which is a major component for organic life on Earth."
The creationists will need something to sugar the pill.
Ezekiel 23:20
If the submitter had actually read the article, he'd know that while the molecules in question *are* sugar, they *are not* sweet and in fact are arguably not even saccharides.
destroyed sugar transport
To form ribose, which is necessary for life?
Yeah, but the propenal reaction is not exactly how "life" does it.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
with space ice, some space air (20% should do) and sure, why not, a few space girls, and we can have a space party like it's space 1999 !!
It is worth noting that this effect does actually happen to some degree. For example, the radio telescope array that they use, includes a great deal of computing power for controlling the system and signal and image processing. That technology didn't need to be independently developed from scratch.
As to cost, that system apparently costs more than a billion dollars. But I doubt that the system would have been the same order of magnitude, should one have developed it in 1970 (with the same capabilities as the current one) instead of now. Similarly, I imagine we'll find that computing technology and manufacture/construction would have advanced in the next twenty years to make the project somewhat easier and cheaper to do twenty years from now.
The real issue to such things is that there is a time value to research and development. Doing and learning things now does have greater value than doing those things twenty years from now.
...your average Brit, sitting there sipping his coffee or tea, listening to BBC morning news...
"And we interrupt this program to bring you the following news: A huge lump of sugar is headed towards planet earth, yes...that is where you and I live".
The unassuming average Brit, just sitting there, sipping on his morning coffee when he yet again is interrupted by a voice saying: "More sugar dear?" ...you all know where I am going with this.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
As if we didn't have enough golf-club-gold-member yacht owning dentists in this world.
Imagine vampires turning people into more vampires, now...dentists will give birth to even more dentists...
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
I'm not a sock puppet either, but we really should send the Italians off on that rocket as well.
Say hi to Laura
If there's sugar, someone will surely make rum out of it. We'll have plenty of space grog. Arrr!
I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet -Stanislaw Lem
Thing is though, you've still got to solve Problem B to do that, which equally probably wasn't trivial.
The point is that you were going to solve Problem B anyway. For example, I think we'll see a decline in the cost of space-based science missions just due to manufacture improvements on Earth (and eventually the entry of private charity into that endeavor).
Just need some yeast and we'll have one hell of a party star!
Everybody uses broad generalizations.
A sugar molecule is as far from an amoeba as a piece of quartz frim a supercomputer. Insisting that living things came from nonliving matter by random processes is absurd. Anyone who thinks that is being far more dogmatic than the creationists they stubbornly ridicule.
Where to start...
Amino acids are found in deep space, not exactly a prime spot for the development of life.
We know that living things came from nonliving matter (and energy), because the universe was once in a state where living matter could not exist, yet now living matter is rife in at least one place.
The universe and its processes are not entirely random. If they were, this sugar would not exist either.
It's the very opposite of "dogmatic" to base your views on evidence.
Yours might have been an OK troll the first day the internet existed, but now it's as far from "nice troll" as a sugar molecule is from an amoeba.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
"Glycolaldehyde has been found before in space, but never this close to a Sun-like planet."
Gentlemen. We have found the planet of heaven.
Quick! Somebody clean this mess up before space-flies gather on top of it.
And you're not?
You're not even a new kind of stupid.
Ribose is an important component of RNA (and deoxy-ribose of DNA), so yeah, I'd say it's pretty central to life.
And notably, you can make enzymes from RNA as well - which is one of the hypothesized ways that life might've bootstrapped itself from the primordial ooze in the first place. There are a lot of RNAzymes floating around in your cellular nuclei right now.
That's what I said (I'm the AC from above). The article said it was only "major".
Sugar that close to a sun must be caramelised - mmmmmm
Sugar? In coffee? What the hell is wrong with these people?
Life is not meant to exist. Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke, I say.
This is a rehash of a paper published in November 2008 (Beltran, et. al.). By the way, glucolaldehyde is NOT a sugar, it is a diose. Well, the only diose.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
Willy Wonka went after he retired.
Glycolaldehyde is the first step in the metabolism of ethylene glycol, and likewise will be metabolized to oxalic acid, which is the poison in rhubarb.
Ooh, moderator points! Five more idjits go to Minus One Hell!
Delendae sunt RIAA, MPAA et Windoze
Why yes, I now see that you did. You are hereby vindicated!
How? Does it reflect some rare particular frequency of light? Oh wait, Doppler wavelength dilation. Did they travel out there and scoop some up to sample it? I don't get it! Why do they never mention how they determined what molecule is off on some distant solar system?! Good thing some intelligent slashdotter is about to reply and explain it to all of us 10x simpler and faster than any article anywhere ever :-D
there's a reason.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
Sweet justice ! ...
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
.. 't makm' e feeeeel so gooooood!
WhuuaaAAAAuuu!
The three laws of thermodynamics:(1) You can't win. (2) You can't break even. (3) You can't even quit.
We know life comes from non-life becase we are here. Yea for scientific method!
"If God had intended us to walk he would not have invented roller skates." -- Willy Wonka