Frozen hydrogen cyanide crystals may have helped spark early chemistry for life
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 15, 2026
Hydrogen cyanide is highly poisonous to humans, yet new work suggests it could have played a constructive role in the emergence of life on early Earth and in other cold environments in the solar system and beyond. At very low temperatures this molecule forms solid crystals, and those crystals can host chemistry that would normally be far too slow or even impossible under such frigid conditions.
Hydrogen cyanide is highly poisonous to humans, yet new work suggests it could have played a constructive role in the emergence of life on early Earth and in other cold environments in the solar system and beyond. At very low temperatures this molecule forms solid crystals, and those crystals can host chemistry that would normally be far too slow or even impossible under such frigid conditions.