Astronomers have made the first secure detection of the methyl radical, a highly reactive molecule, around a dying star, using the James Webb Space Telescope. An international team led by the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias observed the carbon-rich evolved star SMP LMC 011 in the Large Magellanic Cloud with Webb's MIRI spectrograph. The methyl radical, written CH3, was found at levels too high for ordinary photochemistry to explain, suggesting it comes from the erosion of carbon dust grains by ultraviolet radiation or shocks. The molecule feeds the growth of aromatic compounds such as toluene and ethylbenzene, key building blocks of complex carbon chemistry. The study, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, is part of the JWST Proto-PAH Project probing how large organic molecules form around ageing stars. A similar molecule was detected in a distant galaxy earlier this year, but this is the first confirmed case around an evolved star.