News Chemistry

Life’s building blocks grow close to home

Chemical reactions in the early solar system create complex organic molecules

By Nadia Drake

- More than 2 years ago

Though life is a complicated brew, some of its ingredients can be plucked from Earth’s backyard instead of being imported from more distant interstellar fields.

EMBRYONIC CLOUD The swirling, dusty disk surrounding a young star (NGC 1333-IRAS 4B shown in this artist’s illustration) contains particles that can host complex organic molecules, the building blocks of life as we know it on Earth.