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Astrobiologist Dale Andersen’s Antarctic Field Report: 9 November 2026: Lake Untersee Basecamp Update
[Dale Andersen]. Keith, The last few days we have worked hard to get our camp set up. We are almost there, with everything but the lab tent and dive tent in place. We have been focused on ensuring the camp is prepared for inclement weather. In fact, we expect a significant change in the weather…
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From Anoxic to Oxic Earth: Detectability of Atmospheric Biosignatures Across Stellar Hosts with ELT/ANDES
[astro-ph.EP]. Earth’s atmosphere evolved from an anoxic, methane-bearing Archean state through Proterozoic oxygenation to the…
The Kinetic Basis of the Genetic Code
[q-bio.OT] The origin of the genetic code is an enigma, requiring explanations for the emergence…
Power Density as a Universal Biosignature: An Application to the Stellivore Hypothesis
[physics.gen-ph] Power density is a central measure underlying a common thread in cosmic evolution. It…
Earth As A Potential Source Of Llife For Europa’s Subsurface Ocean
The paper discusses the possibility of dust particles containing living bacteria ejected from Earth reaching Europa and landing on its surface. It is shown that, taking certain factors into account, over a period of 30 − 80 Myr (the estimated age of Europa’s ocean), Jupiter’s moon would have been impacted…
Keep readingDust To Dust: Prospects For Passive Technosignatures As Relics Of ETI
Technological societies are separated in time, not just space — that is the lesson of the Drake equation. Might the best way to seek them be to find technosignatures that persist long after their creators? I present work I and my collaborators have done on the idea of passive technosignatures,…
Keep readingExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Astronomy & Telescopes
Atmospheres, Climate, Weather
An Ion-Neutral Reaction to Form Cyanobenzene and Ethynylbenzene in Titan’s Atmosphere
[ACS Earth Space Chem] The ion-neutral reaction between cyanoacetylene (HC3N) and phenyl anion (C6H5 -) leads to the formation of cyanobenzene (C6H5CN) and the ethynyl anion (C2H-) via a submerged, exothermic pathway. Through a different mechanism, the same two reactants also form ethynylbenzene (C6H5C2H) and CN-. These new reactions can be a foundation for the…
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Astrobiologist Dale Andersen’s Antarctic Field Report: 7 November 2026: Building Up Our Research Base Infrastructure
Update from Dale Andersen: “We are settling in at Lake Untersee now, getting the camp set up. Safety is our number one priority and we…
Scott Base: Lessons For A Mars Exploration Program
[Antarctic Science]. Scott Base is New Zealand’s year-round Antarctic research station, and it provides an operationally established template for designing sustained human presence in extreme,…
Astrobiologist Dale Andersen’s Antarctic Field Report: 5 November 2026: Traverse to Lake Untersee
Keith’s note: after a routine traverse along the standard route from Ultima Airbase, Dale Andersen and his team arrived at their base camp location at…
Imaging & Spectroscopy
A Potential New Dimension of Astrophysical Aromatic Functionalization: Phosphaethynyl (CP) Derivatives
[astro-ph.GA] Quantum chemical computations outline a thermodynamically viable, low-temperature, gas-phase formation pathway for phosphaethynyl cyclopropenylidene (c-C3HCP), resulting from cyclopropenylidene (c-C3H2) and the phosphaethynyl (CP) radical.…
Gas-phase Chemistry of C3H+3: a Key Building Block for Carbon Mass Growth in Space
[physics.chem-ph] The gas-phase chemistry of C3H+3 plays a central role in the growth of carbonaceous species across a wide range of environments, from combustion systems…
ExoClock Unlocked: A Project To Increase Public Participation In Exoplanet Research
[RAS Techniques and Instruments] Modern astronomical research increasingly relies on data obtained by robotic telescopes and processed through automated pipelines. While these advances have significantly…
Biosignatures & Paleobiology
The Series of Genetic Codes That Preceded Our Own
[Genetics] We produce a working hypothesis for the steps by which the canonical genetic code might have been constructed. We assume amino acids were added…
Agentic AI Joins the Search for Extraterrestrial Signals
[NVIDIA]. While science fiction lore tells us that humans will meet extraterrestrial life in the form of little green men, the detail that should raise…
Formamide Formation on Forsterite and Mg(OH)2.H2O
[astro-ph.GA] Context. Formamide formation in the Universe has been the subject of debate due to its importance as a precursor to amino acids and RNA.…