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The sugar that sparked life: Why ribose was RNA’s first choice

What made ribose the sugar of choice for life's code? Scientists at Scripps Research may have cracked a major part of this mystery. Their experiments show that ribose binds more readily and selectively to phosphate compared to other similar sugars, forming a structure ideal for RNA formation. This discovery hints at how nature might have selected specific molecules long before enzymes or life existed, and could reshape our understanding of life’s chemical origins.

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