Recently, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed amazing molecules hidden in cold clouds in a cold and dark universe. These molecules are not ordinary, but a kind of "interstellar bricks", which will one day merge into the next generation of stars or planets, and may even lead to the birth of life as currently known. The relevant research was published in the recent journal Nature. The molecular cloud known as Chamaeleon I is in a mysterious and hazy space. This star-forming region is hundreds of light-years away from the earth, and is considered to be one of the coldest and darkest regions known to mankind so far. After taking the Chamaeleon I molecular cloud as the target, the Webb Space Telescope, in addition to finding frozen structures such as carbon dioxide, ammonia and water, also detected evidence of a "pre-life molecule" in the cloud, which is considered to be a specific chemical substance that creates appropriate conditions for life precursors. NASA has identified its complex organic molecules and found traces of widespread organic substances such as methanol and ethanol, indicating that many stars and planetary systems in this molecular cloud will "inherit" their chemical molecules in the process of growth. This also means that the existence of "pre-life molecules" in a star and planetary system should be a common result rather than a unique feature of the solar system. In other words, the microbes, plants and all living things on the earth, including humans, are not so special, because the ingredients that make these living things are actually a common by-product of star growth. The project scientists said that without Webb, they could not have observed these molecules. Because in such a cold and dense region, most of the light from the background stars is blocked, but Webb's sensitivity is very good at detecting starlight and identifying ice in molecular clouds. This study may mean that humans are not alone in the universe. However, the team stressed that this does not mean that extraterrestrial life has been found, because scientists are not fully sure what will happen to these "molecules before the origin of life" over time. Now, it just opens a new window for finding extraterrestrial life. (Xinhua News Agency)