Building Blocks of Life Found Around Baby Star

Astronomers have detected key ingredients for life—including ethylene glycol and glycolonitrile—in the disc of gas and dust surrounding a baby star, offering compelling evidence that life’s building blocks are born in space.

Using the ultra-sensitive ALMA telescope in Chile, a team led by the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy found 17 complex organic molecules (COMs) circling the outbursting protostar V883 Orionis. Among them were precursors to amino acids and DNA components, suggesting life’s chemistry may begin long before planets even form.

This marks the first tentative detection of some of these molecules—such as ethylene glycol (a sugar alcohol) and glycolonitrile (a precursor to both amino acids and nucleobases)—in a protoplanetary disc. Their presence hints that the raw materials for life may be far more common across the cosmos than previously believed.

“These molecules didn’t just survive the chaos of star birth—they likely formed earlier and were passed down,” said co-author Dr. Kamber Schwarz. “It means life’s chemistry could be built into the fabric of planetary systems from the start.”

V883 Orionis is currently undergoing intense radiation outbursts, heating its disc and releasing once-frozen molecules from ice-coated dust grains—similar to how sunlight triggers gas tails in comets. It gave astronomers a rare window to ‘see’ what’s usually hidden.

The findings challenge earlier theories that star formation wipes the slate clean, forcing complex chemistry to restart. Instead, space may be seeding planets with prebiotic potential from the outset.

“Every discovery like this brings us a step closer to understanding where we come from—and where life might be found beyond Earth,” said lead author Abubakar Fadul.