"Ryugu Samples Unveil Life's Building Blocks Formed in Universe's Icy Realms"
Recent research has revealed that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organic molecules considered as prebiotic building blocks for life, can form in the cold regions of space with temperatures around 100 K, challenging the previous belief that they only formed in warmer environments near stars. This discovery, made through the study of asteroid Ryugu and the Murchison meteorite, suggests that these molecules predate the Solar System and opens up new pathways for understanding the chemical evolution of life on Earth and potentially other celestial bodies.