Topic
Study of molecule formation and chemical processes in interstellar space, including the building blocks of life.
A RIKEN group simulated water ice chemistry at 10 kelvin and found that a single property of a metal-poor birth cloud can produce both of the strange isotope ratios measured in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS.
Reality
G+0.633 turns up more than 120 molecular species, including second-ever detections of ethanolamine and glycolamide, suggesting the galaxy's most chemically productive chemistry is a category, not a one-off curiosity.
Reality
ALMA's compact array found ten molecules around HD 87643, six of them sulfur-bearing, where only carbon monoxide had been seen. One isotope ratio does not fit standard nuclear physics.
Reality
Higher-resolution mapping turns star-forming clouds into comparisons rather than catalogues, but first someone has to check that the finer maps agree with the ones built over previous decades.
Reality
A Live Science tally puts the off-Earth inventory at all five DNA and RNA nucleobases and 14 of 20 biological amino acids. The gaps are now the interesting part.
Reality