The popular claim that space tastes like raspberries and smells like rum, repeated in science articles for over fifteen years, is based on a single 2009 detection of one organic molecule in one specific dust cloud at the centre of the Milky Way, and the actual story behind the finding is more interesting than the version that has been circulating
· space daily editorial team
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The molecule is called ethyl formate. Its chemical formula is C2H5OCHO, with eleven atoms arranged as an ester. On Earth, it is one of the compounds responsible for the flavour of raspberries, and it carries a faint rum-like scent. It is also used industrially in the manufacture of safety glass and as a solvent in [...] The post The popular claim that space tastes like raspberries and smells like rum, repeated in science articles for over fifteen years, is based on a single 2009 detection of one organic molecule in one specific dust cloud at the centre of the Milky Way, and the actual story behind the finding is more interesting than the version that has been circulating appeared first on Space Daily .