  The building blocks of life, amino acids and nucleobases, are believed to
have been synthesized in the extreme conditions that prevail in space starting
from simple molecules containing hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen.
However, the fate and role of amino acids and nucleobases when they are
subjected to similar processes largely remains unexplored. Here we report, for
the first time, that shock processed amino acids and nucleobases tend to form
complex macroscale structures. Such structures are formed on timescales of
about 2 ms. This discovery suggests that the building blocks of life could have
polymerized not just on Earth but on other planetary bodies. Our study also
provides further experimental evidence for the 'threads' observed in meteorites
being due to assemblages of (bio)molecules arising from impact induced shocks.
