A recent study led by the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA) reports the first detection of a sugar in the interstellar medium. The sugar, erythrulose, is a four-carbon sugar (C₄H₈O₄, or HOCH₂CH(OH)COCH₂OH). The detection of erythrulose demonstrates that molecules relevant to the origin of life can form in interstellar space, expanding the inventory of organic material that may have been available for the synthesis of the first nucleic acids on the early Earth.
