Life's basic chemistry may start not in warm ponds on young planets but in the icy dark between the stars. A new study shows that simple building blocks of proteins can link together on tiny grains of cosmic dust, even where there is no liquid water, raising the chances that life‑friendly chemistry is common across the universe.

Life's basic chemistry may start not in warm ponds on young planets but in the icy dark between the stars.

Life's basic chemistry may start not in warm ponds on young planets but in the icy dark between the stars.