Geekzilla

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

Astronomers have a new take on what they once considered lifeless outer space. They now think of our galaxy as a vast reactor for biologically significant organic chemistry.

Materials that could jump-start organic evolution have shown up in interstellar dust clouds and dusty planet-forming discs around many stars. These findings fuel an increasingly strong suspicion that the raw material of planet Earth was primed for life. ...

As data on interstellar chemicals have poured in over the past decade, astronomers have abandoned their long-held prejudice against such chemistry. They had thought that ultraviolet radiation from stars, and other harsh conditions, would tear apart organic molecules even if they did form.

However, dust can shield that chemistry. Many reactions occur within protective icy coatings on dust particles. Some 130 organic molecules have revealed themselves so far. ...

"The discovery further demonstrates how important interstellar chemistry may be in understanding the creation of biological molecules on the Earth," said researcher Phillip R. Jewell when these discoveries were reported in 2002. "Some scientists have even speculated that the Earth could have been 'seeded' with complex molecules from passing comets, which formed from the condensing gas nebula that produced our solar system." ...

There is no consensus yet. But even skeptics find it interesting that an interplanetary dust particle - snagged in the atmosphere by a NASA aircraft - contains organic molecules that predate Earth.

Sort of gives everything from SETI to Star Trek a new look.