Sydney Scientists Recreate Cosmic Dust to Probe Life’s Origins

Researchers at the University of Sydney have created cosmic dust in a laboratory.
PhD candidate Linda Losurdo produced the dust to study how life’s building blocks formed.
Cosmic dust carries organic molecules essential for life.
Scientists debate whether these molecules formed on Earth or arrived via meteorites.
Losurdo recreated space conditions using vacuum chambers and energized gas mixtures.
The process formed plasma that condensed into dust-like particles.
The dust mimics material released by dying stars.
Researchers compared its infrared signature with real cosmic samples.
The work may explain why meteorites contain organic matter.
The findings appeared in the Astrophysical Journal.