Long before stars lit up the sky, the universe was a hot, dense place where simple chemistry quietly set the stage for everything to come. Scientists have now recreated the first molecule ever to form,

To try and tease apart the stellar origin story, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany recreated helium hydride in the lab. They found that it likely played a much larger role in star birth than they had previously thought, helping primordial gas clouds shed enough heat to collapse into stars.

Learn about the first ever molecule in the universe and its significance when it comes to the formation of the earliest stars.