Astronomers using James Webb and spectroscopy (splitting light into colors) peered through dust into the center of galaxy IRAS 07251-0248. There they discovered benzene, acetylene, methane — the same hydrocarbons found in gasoline and plastics. There are hundreds of times more than expected, and hot gas alone can't produce such amounts. The key lies in cosmic dust, rich in carbon. Cosmic rays bombard dust grains, acting like a jackhammer: they knock ready-made molecules out of them.
These molecules leave the core at a speed of 160 kilometers per second and can re-clump into dust of a new composition. Similar chemical factories, hidden behind dust, operate in other galaxies as well, filling the cosmos with organic matter.
Benzene — a component of gasoline and plastics — has been found for the first time outside our Galaxy; previously it had only been spotted in the Milky Way.