Electron transfer coupled to redox chemistry is at the heart of metabolism. The proteins responsible for moving electrons (protein electron carriers) must have emerged at the origin of life.
ACS
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Pinpointing Conditions for a Metabolic Origin of Life: Underlying Mechanisms and the Role of Coenzymes
Famously found written on the blackboard of physicist Richard Feynman after his death was the phrase, “What I cannot create, I do not understand.” From this perspective, recreating the origin […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Interstellar, Status Report
A Computational Investigation Into Hydrocarbon Growth On Extraterrestrial Mineral Surfaces Toward Understanding the Carbon Discrepancy in Space
The distribution and chemical form of carbon in the universe are of great interest to astrobiology; however, the measured abundance of carbon in interstellar environments is significantly less than that […]
Posted inTitan
Titan-in-a-glass Experiments Hint At Mineral Makeup Of Saturn's Moon
Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is a natural laboratory to study the origins of life. Like Earth, Titan has a dense atmosphere and seasonal weather cycles, but the chemical and mineralogical […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors
Tricorder Tech: This Device Could Help Detect Signs Of Extraterrestrial Life
Although Earth is uniquely situated in the solar system to support creatures that call it home, different forms of life could have once existed, or might still exist, on other […]
Posted inArctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Brinicles or sea stalactites provide clues to origin of life
Life on Earth may have originated not in warm tropical seas, but with weird tubes of ice — sometimes called “sea stalactites” — that grow downward into cold seawater near […]