Presence in Space
The detection of glycine in the interstellar medium has been debated. In 2008, the glycine-like molecule aminoacetonitrile was discovered in the Large Molecule Heimat, a giant gas cloud near the galactic center in the constellation Sagittarius by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. In 2009, glycine sampled in 2004 from comet Wild 2 by the NASA spacecraft Stardust was confirmed, the first discovery of extraterrestrial glycine. That mission's results bolstered the theory of panspermia, which claims that the "seeds" of life are widespread throughout the universe.
Read more about this topic: Glycine
Famous quotes containing the words presence and/or space:
“How empty is theory in the presence of fact!”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Not so many years ago there there was no simpler or more intelligible notion than that of going on a journey. Travel—movement through space—provided the universal metaphor for change.... One of the subtle confusions—perhaps one of the secret terrors—of modern life is that we have lost this refuge. No longer do we move through space as we once did.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)