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Icy objects such as comets may have helped start life on Earth by delivering water and carbon-based molecules to the young planet. Because putting something on ice doesn't necessarily keep it from changing: a new study finds that even in frigid, deep space environments, simple hydrocarbon molecules can react to become more complex ones. The process even works when temperatures drop to near absolute zero.
像彗星這樣的冰狀天體曾給年輕的地球提供水和碳基分子，從而促進了地球上生命的起源。因為只提供冰層并不能有所改變：一項新的研究發現，即使在嚴寒的深太空環境中，簡單的碳氫化合物分子也能發生反應，生成更復雜的化合物。即使在溫度接近絕對零度時，反應也能發生。
But just what kind of organic molecules would exist on the icy bodies of a forming solar system? Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, investigated how organic molecules might evolve toward greater complexity even in the cold of interstellar space.
但是哪種有機分子能存在于最初形成的太陽系的冰層里呢？加利福尼亞州帕薩迪納噴氣推進實驗室的研究人員調查了在寒冷的星際空間里，有機分子是如何進化成更高級的化合物。
The scientists found that ultraviolet light, which radiates from stars and galaxies, can induce rapid changes in icy hydrocarbon molecules cooled to 5 kelvin—that's a frosty minus 451 degrees Fahrenheit.
科學家們發現，恒星和星系放射的紫外線能夠誘使冷卻到5開爾文的冰態碳氫化合物迅速發生變化。5開爾文相當于零下451華氏攝氏度。
The chemical reactions resulted in molecules of more complexity—which is the right direction to go if you want to eventually make amino acids and biological molecules. The study appears in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
化學反應后產生更復雜的分子——如果你想最終得到氨基酸和生物分子，那么這就是正確的方向。這項研究發表在《天體物理學報通信》上。
It just goes to show—if you really want to freeze something in place, you'd better encase it in carbonite.
這只是證明——如果你真想在太空里凍結某物，最好用焦炭材料來包裝。
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