Suger found in Milky Way, but no nougat

Dec. 9, 2008 -- The search for life beyond Earth doesn't always require rovers on Mars, radio scans of nearby stars or telescopes powerful enough to image Earth-like planets. For some astronomers, learning about whether life exists elsewhere in the universe is a matter of molecules.

Maria Beltran, with the University of Barcelona's Department of Astronomy, and several European colleagues found a fairly simple molecule known as glycolaldehyde, an eight-atomed entity -- two carbon, two oxygen, four hydrogen -- more commonly known as sugar.

Discovery News