The molecules are crucial for the development of life and its discovery suggests that meteor impacts may have delivered the sugars to Earth. One of the sugars discovered, ribose, is a component of RNA (ribonucleic acid) and may help us to understand how life may have emerged from non-biological sources. RNA molecules have capabilities that DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) lacks. RNA can make copies of itself without “help” from other molecules, and it can also initiate or speed up chemical reactions as a catalyst.
The new work gives some evidence to support the possibility that RNA coordinated the machinery of life before DNA.
The scientists, hailing from NASA and Japanese universities, identified the carbon atoms they found in the meteorites’ sugar molecules were different from those generally found on Earth, according to the research, which was published Monday in the journal PNAS.
The team hopes to double check by searching for ribose in pristine samples from space rocks, like those taken from the asteroid Ryugu that are currently en route to Earth.
Lead researcher Yoshihiro Furukawa of Tohoku University said in the NASA release: “The research provides the first direct evidence of ribose in space and the delivery of the sugar to Earth.
Scientists have found sugar molecules on two asteroids (Image: GETTY)
The research provides the first evidence of ribose in space (Image: GETTY)
“The extraterrestrial sugar might have contributed to the formation of RNA on the prebiotic Earth which possibly led to the origin of life.”
“It is remarkable that a molecule as fragile as ribose could be detected in such ancient material,” said Jason Dworkin, a co-author of the study at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“These results will help guide our analyses of pristine samples from primitive asteroids Ryugu and Bennu, to be returned by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa2 and NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.”
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The find support the possibility that RNA coordinated the machinery of life before DNA (Image: GETTY)
The scientists, hailing form NASA and Japanese universities, identified the carbon atoms they found in the meteorites’ sugar molecules were different from those generally found on Earth, according to the research, which was published Monday in the journal PNAS.
The team hopes to double check by searching for ribose in pristine samples from space rocks, like those taken from the asteroid Ryugu that are currently en route to Earth.
Lead researcher Yoshihiro Furukawa of Tohoku University said in the NASA release: “The research provides the first direct evidence of ribose in space and the delivery of the sugar to Earth.
“The extraterrestrial sugar might have contributed to the formation of RNA on the prebiotic Earth which possibly led to the origin of life.”
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The team hopes to double check by searching for ribose in pristine samples from space rocks (Image: GETTY)
NASA (Image: GETTY)
“It is remarkable that a molecule as fragile as ribose could be detected in such ancient material,” said Jason Dworkin, a co-author of the study at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“These results will help guide our analyses of pristine samples from primitive asteroids Ryugu and Bennu, to be returned by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa2 and NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.”
The new discovery comes as NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope have found a supermassive blackhole 5.8 billion light years from Earth that is creating stars at a “furious rate”.
Galaxy clusters typically consist of thousands of galaxies held together by strong gravitational forces, with the most powerful black holes ever discovered lying at their centres.
In the usual galaxy clusters observed the black holes at their centres were so strong they actually prevented the creation of stars, but the “phoenix cluster” just discovered boasts some key differences that have shocked scientists.
The new cluster’s black hole seems far weaker than in other clusters’ with trillions of sun’s masses worth of hot gas cooling around it, allowing the formation of a vast number of stars.
If stronger, the black hole at its centre would prevent this cooling and therefore prevent any creation of stars, but these unique circumstances may provide scientists with some answers to some of the greatest questions ever put to them.
The research could help us better understand the life cycles of galaxies and how they interact with these supermassive blackholes.
A paper published in the Astrophysical Journal last month, explained the processes in these clusters in some easier terms.
The scientist will continue testing the samples of meteor rock (Image: GETTY)
“Imagine running an air-conditioner in your house on a hot day, but then starting a wood fire. Your living room can’t properly cool down until you put out the fire,” co-author Brian McNamara from the University of Waterloo, Canada, said in a statement.
They found that in the “phoenix cluster” the hot gas was cooling at the same rate as when a blackhole stops injecting energy.
This means stars can be born in the region in huge numbers where the gas has cooled sufficiently.
The X-ray Chandra Observatory noting that the cluster was producing stars at an eye watering 500 times faster than our own Milky Way galaxy.
However, the authors of the report stressed this “furious rate” won’t last forever.
“These results show that the black hole has temporarily been assisting in the formation of stars, but when it strengthens its effects will start to mimic those of black holes in other clusters, stifling more star birth,” co-author Mark Voit from Michigan State University said in the statement.
