Lab-made cosmic dust sheds light on life's origins
A Sydney PhD candidate recreated interstellar dust in a lab by charging a nitrogen/CO2/acetylene gas mix with about 10,000 volts, producing carbon-rich dust whose infrared fingerprints match those seen in space. The work helps scientists study how CHON-based building blocks form under space-like conditions and aims to build a database of infrared signatures to compare with observations of star-forming regions and meteorites, offering new insights into the origins of life on Earth.