Who are we? Why are we here? As the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song suggests, we are stardust, the result of chemistry occurring throughout vast clouds of interstellar gas […]
chemistry
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Understanding the Role of Layered Minerals in the Emergence and Preservation of Proto-Proteins and Detection of Traces of Early Life
The origin of life remains one of the most profound mysteries in science. Over millennia, theories have evolved, yet the question persists: How did life emerge from inanimate matter?
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
Evidence Of Hydration Has Been Found On Metallic Asteroid Psyche
Using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a Southwest Research Institute-led team has confirmed hydroxyl molecules on the surface of the metallic asteroid Psyche. The presence of hydrated minerals […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
What Gave The First Molecules Their Stability?
The origins of life remain a major mystery. How were complex molecules able to form and remain intact for prolonged periods without disintegrating? A team at ORIGINS, a Munich-based Cluster […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report
Low Temperature Formation of Pyridine and (iso)quinoline Via Neutral Neutral Reactions
Aromatic molecules represent fundamental building blocks in prebiotic chemistry and are contemplated as vital precursors to DNA and RNA nitrogen bases.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Interstellar, Status Report
The Earliest Phases of CNO Enrichment in Galaxies
Context. The recent detection of nitrogen-enhanced, metal-poor galaxies at high redshift by the James Webb Space Telescope has sparked renewed interest in exploring the chemical evolution of carbon, nitrogen, and […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report
Abundant Hydrocarbons in the Disk Around a Very-low-mass Star
Very low-mass stars (those <0.3 solar masses) host orbiting terrestrial planets more frequently than other types of stars, but the compositions of those planets are largely unknown.
Posted inBiophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Self-generating Autocatalytic Networks: Structural Results, Algorithms And Their Relevance To Early Biochemistry
The concept of an autocatalytic network of reactions that can form and persist, starting from just an available food source, has been formalized by the notion of a reflexively autocatalytic […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Interstellar, Status Report
Interstellar Nitrogen Isotope Ratios: Measurements on tracers of C14N and C15N
The nitrogen isotope ratio 14N/15N is a powerful tool to trace Galactic stellar nucleosynthesis and constraining Galactic chemical evolution. Previous observations have found lower 14N/15N ratios in the Galactic center […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Non-LTE Abundances Of Nitrogen In The Sun And Reference A-F Type Stars
A new model atom of nitrogen was developed using the energy levels of N I from laboratory measurements and also predicted in atomic structure calculations and the most up-to-date atomic […]