Friday, May 8 2009
Raspberry Space Pirates
But why has all the rum gone? White Rock Willie gets his raspberry on
What on earth do delectable raspberries and my ruthless, rum-swilling neighbour, White Rock Willie have in common with the Final Frontier? Well, as it turns out, Outer Space Smells of Rum and Tastes of Raspberries. According to the UK Guardian
Astronomers searching for the building blocks of life in a giant dust cloud at the heart of the Milky Way have concluded that it tastes vaguely of raspberries.
The unanticipated discovery follows years of work by astronomers who trained their 30m radio telescope on the enormous ball of dust and gas in the hope of spotting complex molecules that are vital for life.
Finding amino acids in interstellar space is a Holy Grail for astrobiologists, as this would raise the possibility of life emerging on other planets after being seeded with the molecules.
In the latest survey, astronomers sifted through thousands of signals from Sagittarius B2, a vast dust cloud at the centre of our galaxy. While they failed to find evidence for amino acids, they did find a substance called ethyl formate, the chemical responsible for the flavour of raspberries.
Curiously, ethyl formate has another distinguishing characteristic: it also smells of rum.
It's been a great few months for our understanding of the universe, from dark energy detection to stronger evidence of naked singularities (no, that's not an advertisement on Craigslist). But finding out the universe smells and tastes of delicious alcohol is just about the best science I've heard in years. Somebody bring me a raspberry Daquiri!
NOTE: This blog entry was edited June 22nd, in order to correct my spelling of White Rock Willie's name. A thousand pardons, sir. Now please stand down your boarding parties, I'll get it right in the future.
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