Artist rendering. Credit: UH News
A groundbreaking study from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Department of Chemistry has revealed that key molecules essential to the metabolic processes that power life may have formed in deep space long before Earth came into existence. Scientists at the W. M. Keck Research Laboratory in Astrochemistry simulated the extreme cold and radiation-rich conditions of interstellar clouds, recreating the environment where stars and planets begin to form.
Their experiments successfully produced a complete set of carboxylic acids, the same compounds central to the Krebs cycle, a core energy-generating process used by nearly all living organisms. This research supports the idea that life on Earth may have been jumpstarted by a “starter kit” of organic compounds delivered by asteroids or comets.
Led by UH Mānoa Professor Ralf I. Kaiser and graduate student Mason Mcanally, the study highlights UH Mānoa’s expanding role in astrobiology and space chemistry. Their findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and open new doors to understanding how life could begin—on Earth and beyond.