Detection of erythrulose shows compounds that are key to life can form in expanse between stars
A natural sugar found in raspberries and used in fake tan lotions has been detected in an enormous cloud of dust and gas that lurks near the heart of the Milky Way. The discovery does not suggest that the galaxy revolves around a distant civilisation of pale, safety-conscious frugivores, but shows that compounds important for life can form in the frigid expanse between the stars.
This article is from 2026, so this is supposedly a new discovery, but — and I know this is gonna sound crazy!! — I thought this was already a known thing because of space perfumes having raspberry notes?
Specifically Alkemia's The Center of the Universe perfume (which has been out since at least 2020, I think?), is described as follows:
The center of our universe is raspberries and rum? In a vast dust cloud at the center of the Milky Way there is an abundance of ethyl formate, a simple aliphatic ester found in the smell of rum and raspberries. To these elements, we've added notes from astronauts' descriptions of the smell of their suits when they return from space walks - freshly welded metal, gun powder, seared steak in an iron pan, burnt almond cookies, charcoal, and ozone.
