A Giant Milky Way Cloud Contains Alcohol

If you could scoop up a cloud from the center of the Milky Way, you’d find something surprising—booze. There’s a massive gas cloud called Sagittarius B2, near the Galactic Center about 25,000 light-years away, that contains ethyl alcohol, the same kind found in beer and wine. Sadly, it’s only a trace ingredient spread far too thin to drink, but it does hint at how complex molecules form in space. Some scientists think these interstellar molecules played a role in the chemistry that led to life on Earth. So, in a way, the universe might have been brewing organic chemistry before life even began.