Fwd: Researchers map the first chemical bonds that eventually giverise to DNA

Researchers map the first chemical bonds that eventually give rise to DNA
http://phys.org/news/2015-05-hot-lif...ventually.html

DNA is synonymous with life, but where did it originate? One way to
answer this question is to try to recreate the conditions that formed
DNA's molecular precursors. These precursors are carbon ring
structures with embedded nitrogen atoms, key components of
nucleobases, which themselves are building blocks of the double
helix.

Now, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence
Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley Lab) and the University of Hawaii at
Manoa have shown for the first time that cosmic hot spots, such as
those near stars, could be excellent environments for the creation of
these nitrogen-containing molecular rings.

In a new paper in the Astrophysical Journal, the team describes the
experiment in which they recreate conditions around carbon-rich,
dying stars to find formation pathways of the important molecules.