Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry Archives

Manganese oxides, thought to form almost exclusively through reactions between Mn2+ and O2, catalyze oxidative transformations among redox-sensitive metals. -- PNAS

Analog Studies, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Mars, Status Report

Anoxic Photo-oxidation Of Mn(II)-bearing Carbonates On Mars And Early Earth

by Keith CowingJune 14, 2026June 14, 2026

Manganese oxides, thought to form almost exclusively through reactions between Mn2+ and O2, catalyze oxidative transformations among redox-sensitive metals. Thus, the occurrence of Mn oxides, either observed or inferred from […]

Locations of the four candidate sites across a 2D map projection of Bennu’s surface captured by the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite (OCAMS) (Bennett et al., 2021).

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Sample Return, Status Report

Quantifying Surface Heterogeneity Across Asteroid (101955) Bennu using Candidate Site Remote Sensing Data

by Keith CowingJune 13, 2026June 13, 2026

The OSIRIS-REx mission acquired spatially resolved (2-10 m spot sizes) visible-near infrared (VNIR) and thermal infrared (TIR) spectra across four candidate sampling sites on asteroid (101955) Bennu: Nightingale, Osprey, Sandpiper, […]

Schematic of the selection step in the doped in emulsio selection.

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

What Powered the Earth’s Earliest Life?

by Keith CowingJune 12, 2026June 12, 2026

Early biological systems likely relied on RNA molecules to copy themselves and drive simple chemical reactions.

NIRSpec average spectrum of Titan (black) compared with a radiative transfer calculation in which the surface albedo decreases smoothly with wavelength beyond 4.9 µm (red). The blue line shows the difference between the observed and synthetic spectra, shifted by 0.005 for clarity. The 5.11-µm absorption is clearly missing in the model. The small mismatch below 4.93 µm is due to a component of the non-LTE CO emission not included in the model. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Pluto, Status Report, Titan

An Unidentified Absorption Feature At 5.11 μm On The Surface Of Titan And Pluto From JWST Spectroscopy

by Keith CowingJune 12, 2026June 12, 2026

Titan possesses a thick N2-CH4 atmosphere that makes it difficult to study its surface spectroscopically. The chemical composition of the solid surface of Titan thus remains very uncertain.

To test the method, the team analyzed more than 100 organic and inorganic samples, including material from three-billion-year-old Earth rocks, dinosaur eggshells and fossilized dinosaur feathers caught in amber, as well as samples collected in space from the Ryugu and Bennu asteroids. Asteroid Bennu. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Before The Aliens, The Amino Acids

by Keith CowingJune 11, 2026June 11, 2026

Before any wrinkled, wide-eyed creature from a distant civilization asks to be taken home, the first success in the search for life beyond Earth might be more prosaic. A clue […]

Optical depth spectrum and ENIIGMA best-fit model for the 4.0-4.45 µm region and its separate components. Major gas lines are labeled. The inset zooms in on the HDO ice feature. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

First Detection Of HDO Ice In A Protoplanetary Disk

by Keith CowingJune 11, 2026June 11, 2026

Protoplanetary disks are the birthplace of planets and planetary systems. Investigating the molecular inventory of disks is key to linking the chemical evolution of the interstellar medium and the makeup […]

Mariana Trench slope viewed through a Human-Occupied Vehicle (HOV) window. Credit BGI Research

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

The Deep Sea Is An Untapped Evolutionary Engine Says New Study

by Keith CowingJune 11, 2026June 11, 2026

Editor’s note: As we expand outward from Earth to other worlds we are almost certainly going to encounter things we did not expect to find – things that are unlikely […]

The contentious role of RNA in early evolution. The arrow represents the evolutionary trajectory from protobiology to the biological cell, with Protogenetics and the RNA-World as critical intermediary stages. The RNA-First paradigm implicitly assumes not only that RNA was fundamental to the emergence of genetic material but that the protobiological stage itself was already dominated by RNA chemistry, which this essay argues is incompatible with the combinatorial vastness of abiotic environments. -- Life

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

The RNA-First Fallacy: Conflating Evolutionary Ancestry with Prebiotic Primacy

by Keith CowingJune 11, 2026June 11, 2026

The RNA-World hypothesis remains the most widely accepted framework in origins-of-life research, anchored in compelling biochemical evidence for RNA’s deep evolutionary ancestry. However, this viewpoint routinely extends beyond that and […]

Collection of disks with localized asymmetries in the dust continuum emission, shown at the same spatial scale based on the Gaia DR3 parallax. The colorscale is chosen arbitrarily to highlight the substructures. These images were presented in Ragusa et al. (2021) (IRAS 04158+2805), McLachlan et al. (2026) (AT Pyx), Pinilla et al. (2022) (LkHa 330), Francis & van der Marel (2020) (HD 34282), Vioque et al. (2026) (HD 97048, J16070854), Isella et al. (2018) (HD 163296), Hashimoto et al. (2021a) (ZZ Tau IRS), Norfolk et al. (2021) (RY Lup), Benisty et al. (2021) (PDS70), P´erez et al. (2018) (HD 143006), Dong et al. (2018) (MWC 758), Zagaria et al. (2025) (CQ Tau), Gonz´alez-Ruilova et al. (2020) (ISO-Oph 2), Long et al. (2018a) (CIDA 9), and Kurtovic et al. (2021) (MHO 6). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

An Archival Summary: 15 Years Of ALMA Observations On Disks And Planet Formation

by Keith CowingJune 9, 2026June 9, 2026

The Atacama Large (sub-)millimeter Array (ALMA) has been in scientific operations for almost 15 years.

A small pond in an otherwise barren landsape on Early Earth with something alive within. Grok via Astrobiology.com

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Rethinking the Last Universal Common Ancestor of Life: Network Convergence and the Root of the Tree

by Keith CowingJune 9, 2026June 10, 2026

The tree of life is rooted at the “origin of life.” One model holds that core biochemistry, which includes the genetic code, the ribosome, biopolymer backbones, and amino acid and […]