Astrochemistry
Astrochemistry is the study of chemistry in extraterristrial objects. There is an Astrochemistry Lab at NASA's Ames Research Center, the Lead Center of the Astrobiology Institute. This particular lab has done much work involving interstellar ice analogs and has created some interesting results. Starting with ices containing compounds common in comets and the interstellar medium - water, methanol, carbon monoxide, and ammonia - researchers simulated the conditions these ices would be under in space. First, the ices were put into a vacuum chamber. Then, they were zapped with UV (ultraviolet) radiation similar to that they would receive in space from nearby stars. They found that this creates compounds life methane, carbon dioxide, ethanol, formamide, acetamide, ketones, and alcohols. Warming the ices and getting rid of compounds that degrade easily, scientists found larger molecules like hexamethylene tetramine (HMT) and polyoxymethylene-based polymers (POMs). These molecules, espcially HMT, are precursors for molecules such as formaldehyde from which amino acids and other molecules necessary for life are made. These findings lend credence to the idea that the Earth may have been seeded with the compounds needed for life by extraterrestrial bodies such as comets. For more information on this idea, please see this article in Scientific American.