On a sunny day (Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:36:06 -0400) it happened Yousuf Khan
wrote in :

Op-Ed: 'Complex organic matter' throughout the universe
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/313446

" Prof. Sun Kwok and Dr. Yong Zhang of The University of Hong Kong
show that an organic substance commonly found throughout the Universe
contains a mixture of aromatic (ring-like) and aliphatic (chain-like)
components. The compounds are so complex that their chemical structures
resemble those of coal and petroleum. Since coal and oil are remnants of
ancient life, this type of organic matter was thought to arise only from
living organisms."

My view is this, and I posted about that here before in the thread 'the origin of oil':
As usual [] they got the whole thing backwards.
What gave me the idea was a posting by NASA that they could arrive too late
at Pluto and the atmosphere would have condensed.
Now I never heard of that one, but started thinking about the early
earth that has an atmosphere with lots of hydrocarbons (your 'complex' molecules).
As it slowly cooled, that atmosphere condensed and formed our oil, tar sands too,
oil is everywhere on earth.
Now we know that this hydrocarbon rich atmosphere came from that what formed earth.
So no oil from plants whatsoever, was a story I never believed in anyways
Right again.
There is no shortage of oil in the short to medium run, and I am sure with the above
data you can calculate how much there is and where to most likely find it.
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.p...7b977af5f34539
A year ahead.

El Pante