Molecules capable of forming the precursors to sugars and amino acids have been detected, for the first time, in the disk of dust and gas whirling around a newborn star.

The detection is tentative, but it offers a window into how complex life gets its start from the chemistry in space, not just before planets are born, but even before the formation of the stars.

"Our results suggest that protoplanetary disks inherit complex molecules from earlier stages," explains astrochemist Kamber Schwarz of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Germany, "and the formation of complex molecules can continue during the protoplanetary disk stage."

Related: The Building Blocks of Life Are Left-Handed, And The Reason Could Come From Deep Space

Stars and their planets are born from dense c

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