![Representation of the functional cycle (Funktionskreis) capturing the structural coherence between the living system and the assimilated environment, showing the analog coding processes operating in perception of external signals and in signal transduction, and the digital coding processes operating in the system's self-maintenance and reproduction. -- [BioSystems]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Codepoietic.png?resize=1200%2C716&ssl=1)
[BioSystems]. Evolution is an intrinsic property of autopoietic systems performing natural computation, which is based on an internal formal self-description representing the arrangement of digital and analog coding structures.
biochemistry
![Schematic illustration of the non-spatial Hash Chemistry model (from [16], with modification). - -[q-bio.PE]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Hash-Chemistry.png?resize=1200%2C717&ssl=1)
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Hash Chemistry: Minimal Models for Evolutionary Growth of Complexity
[q-bio.PE] Hash Chemistry is a family of minimalistic evolutionary models in which a deterministic hash function assigns a scalar score to entities of arbitrary size, opening a combinatorially vast possibility […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Causal Architecture Dynamics Prior to Arrival of Self-replicators in a Model of Catalytic Networks Relevant to Origin-of-Life
[q-bio.PE] Agents that exert causal power in the world are thought to be the product of selection among diverse replicators; what is the causal structure of a medium before replicators […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Liquid–liquid Phase Separation As A Driver Of Abiogenesis And Evolution
[Academia Molecular Biology and Genomics] The origin of life may have emerged through physical mechanisms that enable molecular organization and self-assembly.
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Flavin Cycling Under Prebiotic Conditions: Bidirectional Electron Transfer And Versatility In Nickel and Iron Containing Environments
[biorxiv.org] Flavins are organic redox cofactors central to metabolism and uniquely capable of acting as extracellular electron shuttles. For life to have emerged, it must have disengaged itself from its […]
![Helicity asymmetries of the primordial (left panel) and late-time (right panel) density fields for parity asymmetric (blue curves) and symmetric (red curves) simulations. The shaded regions indicate the standard deviation (1σ) of the ensemble-average. The red markers highlight the asymmetries exceeding a statistical significance of 3σ. - [astro-ph.CO]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Probing.png?resize=1200%2C718&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrochemistry
Probing Primordial Chirality in the Matter Distribution
[astro-ph.CO] Whether parity symmetry was violated in the early universe remains one of the fundamental open questions in cosmology. If so, it may leave an intrinsic handedness in the large-scale […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Oil Droplets Remodel Themselves, And Swallow Their Surroundings – Like Living Cells
[New York University] NYU researchers have made microscopic oil droplets in water do something usually reserved for living cells: change shape in complex, controllable ways, and even engulf their surroundings.
Posted inAstrochemistry
An Interstellar Energetic And Non-aqueous Pathway To Peptide Formation
[astro-ph.SR] The origin of the molecular building blocks of life is a central question in science. A few α-amino acids such as glycine, the simplest proteinogenic amino acid, have been […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
When Polymers Meet Primitive Membranes: How Molecular Cooperation May Have Helped Life Begin
[The Hebrew University of Jerusalem] Researchers have identified a simple form of molecular cooperation that may have helped life’s earliest building blocks become more stable and organized.
![This study reports the first formation of (E)-phosphinimine (HPNH, X1A′) – the simplest iminophosphane – in low-temperature interstellar model ices composed of phosphine (PH3) and ammonia (NH3) exposed to galactic cosmic ray proxies. -- [Chemical Science]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Non-equilibrium.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry
Non-equilibrium Preparation Of (E)-phosphinimine (HPNH, X1A′) – A Precursor To Prebiotic Phosphorylating Agents
[Chemical Science] Phosphorus–nitrogen compounds play crucial roles as intermediates in aza-Wittig reactions and serve as key precursors to prebiotic phosphorylating agents such as amidophosphonates linked to the Origins of Life.