The study reveals discoveries about the energy source and key molecule of life on the gas planet's natural moon. (Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Scientists have discovered complex molecules in the gas and vapor plumes escaping from Enceladus s icy core — and one of them, hydrogen cyanide, is a precursor for life.
The ice moon Enceladus is believed to hold all the basic building blocks of life, including a poisonous gas that is the 'starting point for most theories on the origin of life.'