Galaxy's centre tastes of raspberries and smells of rum, say astronomers

[Reginald]

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.

"It does happen to give raspberries their flavour, but there are many other molecules that are needed to make space raspberries," Arnaud Belloche, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, told the Guardian.

Curiously, ethyl formate has another distinguishing characteristic: it also smells of rum.

Yum.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/apr/21/space-raspberries-amino-acids-astrobiology

 

[Dodo]

i want to lick the universe.

-dodo

 

[ríomhaire]

I for one welcome our new Raspberry Overlords.

 

[simonjedi]

Just don't smell uranus

 

[Dog--]

Just don't smell uranus

I lol'd.

Also - I believe we need a smell-o-scope to prove this.

 

[<RJMC>]

"its smells like strawberryes!"

 

[gFrohman]

Just don't smell uranus

But seriously now...

 

[Dekstar]

Just goes to show how much of an alcoholic God was.

 

[Sledgehammer]

Just don't smell uranus

What's funny about this?

All I can think of is that Uranus (Oranos) died from being castrated. Which probably didn't smell very good.

 

[Sheepo]

I'm not sure if Sledge is being serious...

 

[Slug Advisor]

When people make references the Galaxy and Milky Way, they need to say whether or not it's the food kind first.

 

[Eejit]

Astronomers aren't famous for making declarations about chocolate.

 

[Cephius]

I think you'd be dead before the taste registers with your brain.

 

[Sombra Negra]

Most useless news I've heard all week.

Does the centre of Andromeda taste of apples?

 

[Hurricane]

Most useless news I've heard all week.

Five bucks says you lose a game of Trivial Pursuit because you don't remember this.