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A Precursor Piece to DNA Was Found in Star Material

Stars, of course, not only sustain life, by showering planet Earth in photons, but also can contain, in their protostellar (or very young) form, a precursor material of life: a molecule called glycolonitrile.Photograph by ESA / SPIRE / PACS / P. André (CEA Saclay) / Wikicommons

pril—National Poetry Month—prompted me to reread some of the work of English-American poet, Auden pairs musings on the cosmos with those on the human condition. The last four lines of “Funeral Blues” evoke grief over the loss of a loved friend:

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