> The five-carbon sugar ribose and, for the first time in an extraterrestrial sample, six-carbon glucose were found.

The soup does matter, as does finding that the ingredients are everywhere.

Finding exponentially decreasing amounts of specific chemicals is about as informative as finding short words in strings of random letters.

▲

ceejayoz a day ago | parent [-]

Finding short words in strings of random letters at least establishes the existence of letters and words.

It doesn't demonstrate the existence of Shakespeare's works, but it's a building block that's good to know exists.

▲

pfdietz a day ago | parent [-]

All it means is you can say "if life is rare, it's not because these specific small chemicals can't be produced". Which is a rather weak thing to say. It doesn't imply life isn't rare, or that further advancement the existence of these small building blocks is easy or inevitable.

▲

ceejayoz a day ago | parent | next [-]

> All it means is you can say "if life is rare, it's not because these specific small chemicals can't be produced".

This is absolutely a good finding to have in your pocket.

	▲	pfdietz a day ago \| parent [-]
		"Good"? Ok, if it makes you feel better. But scientifically, it doesn't do much.

▲

pixl97 a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Finding strong things here is going to be difficult. Sometimes you have to take a bunch of weak things to figure out where they lie for guidance.