Tardigrades, nearly microscopic animals that can survive the harshest of environments, including outer space, hold the record for the animal that has the most foreign DNA Researchers from the University […]
DNA
Posted inAstrochemistry, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release
Meteorite Impacts Can Create DNA Building Blocks
A new study shown that meteorite impacts on ancient oceans may have created nucleobases and amino acids. Researchers from Tohoku University, National Institute for Materials Science and Hiroshima University discovered […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
Life on Other Planets: Alternative Chemistries of Life
Ideas about directing evolution of life forms on Earth and finding life on other planets are rapidly morphing from science-fiction fantasy into mainstream science, says David Lynn, a chemist at […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
A Synthetic Organism That Transmits Novel DNA Bases
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have engineered a bacterium whose genetic material includes an added pair of DNA “letters,” or bases, not found in nature. The cells of this […]
Posted inMissions & Hardware, Radiation
New Class of Biological Detectors for WIMPs
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) may constitute a large fraction of the matter in the Universe. There are excess events in the data of DAMA/LIBRA, CoGeNT, CRESST-II, and recently CDMS-Si, […]
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Radiation
How Do Tardigrades Survive Environmental Extremes?
If you have been watching the new series “Cosmos” recently then you have see Tardigrades or “water bears” featured. These creatures are remarkably resistant to a wide range of conditions […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
New DNA-based Naming System for All Earth Life
All living organisms on Earth could soon have a new name if a Virginia Tech professor has his way. Boris Vinatzer has developed a system that classifies and names organisms […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life
Modeling a Near-optimal Genetic Code
Researchers have created a model that may explain the complexities of the origins of life. Their work, which appears in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, offers new insights […]
Posted inGaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Untangling The Tree of Life on Earth
Two recent high-profile phylogenetic studies reached conflicting conclusions about whether snail’s closest relatives are bivalves or an enigmatic group called tusk shells. Vanderbilt phylogeneticists suggest that the cause of this […]
Posted inArctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release
NASA Research Shows DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made in Space
NASA-funded researchers have found more evidence meteorites can carry DNA components created in space.