評論
打印
Well, we've all been hearing about ongoing Mars exploration, and how water probably used to be abundant there. And a water spewing volcano was recently discovered on a small moon orbiting Saturn. Water is one sign that life may exist or have existed at some point.
我們總會聽到一些關于火星探測以及火星以前含有大量水資源的事情。最近，科學家又在一顆繞土星轉動的小衛星上發現了一座噴水火山。水的存在就說明這里存在生命或曾經存在過生命。
Sugar
糖
Astronomers have discovered sugar molecules floating in gas surrounding a young star about 400 million light years away. Not sugar as in the stuff in those little packets, mind you. We're talking about carbohydrates simple molecules made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen which are the simplest forms of sugar.
天文學家在圍繞一顆年輕恒星4億光年外的氣體上發現有糖分子浮在其中。這里的糖可不是我們說的那種用糖紙包的糖哦。我們所說的是由糖的最基本形式---碳、氫、氧所組成的碳水化合物簡單分子。
But the simple sugars that the astronomers detected, called glycoaldehydes, are thought to be one of the building blocks of life.
但是天文學家發現的這種叫做甘油醛的單糖被認為是生命的重要組成部分之一。
How Do These Simple Sugars Form In Space?
這些單糖是如何在宇宙間形成的呢？
Scientists suspect that they form on ice covered dust grains in interstellar clouds. The really exciting thing is that discovering these molecules near a sun like star means that the basic building blocks of life may be present around new stars even before planets form.
科學家們猜測它們是在星際星云中由冰包裹的塵土顆粒上形成的。真正讓人興奮的是，在太陽這樣的恒星附近發現這些分子意味著生命的基本組成部分在星球形成以前就已經出現在新星周圍了。
Again, this doesn't prove anything, but it's one more clue about how life might have begun on Earth–and how and why it might exist elsewhere in the universe.
雖然這還是不足以證明什么，但這對于人們了解地球上是如何出現生命的以及如何、為什么宇宙的其他地方也可能出現生命提供了線索。
