Sydney Scientists Recreate Cosmic Dust to Probe Life’s Origins

Scientists believe cosmic dust helped deliver life’s building blocks to early Earth.
At the University of Sydney, researchers now recreate this dust in the laboratory.
PhD researcher Linda Losurdo produces cosmic dust from scratch using plasma physics.
She simulates dying stars by energising gas mixtures inside a vacuum chamber.
The process creates carbon-rich dust containing organic CHON molecules.
These compounds form the chemical foundations of life.
Studying lab-made dust may explain why meteorites carry organic material.
The work could clarify whether life’s ingredients formed in space or on Earth.
The findings appear in the Astrophysical Journal.*