[Proceedings IAU] It is argued that a central challenge to the task of developing a foundational model for life lies within the implicit propositions of the Western scientific view.
evolution
![Distribution and protein structures of ancestral energy conservation enzymes in bacteria and archaea. For escape as free-living cells, metabolism had to achieve the state of a balanced stoichiometric reaction145, called redox balance in physiology, and the exergonic reactions of electron transfer from H2 to CO2 needed to be coupled to the pumping of ions from the inside of the cell to the outside (chemiosmotic coupling), as in modern cells. Prior to the coupling of CO2 reduction to ion pumping, the natural pH gradient provided by serpentinizing systems (pH 9–11, vs. sea water (pH 6.5146) was harnessable with the help of simple, abiotically synthesized hydrophobics147,148 such as fatty acids, which were recently shown to support the ATP-synthesizing function of a rotor-stator ATPase149. -- [q-bio.PE]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Intermediate.png?resize=1200%2C721&ssl=1)
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Intermediate Stages In The Origin Of Metabolism At A Phosphorylating Hydrothermal Vent
[q-bio.PE] The origin of life required the emergence of metabolism, an autocatalytic network of enzymatic reactions that synthesize amino acids, nucleotides and cofactors. At the origin of metabolism there were […]
![Bold black letters illustrate amino acids that are deduced as early by the approach, while red letters indicate late additions to the alphabet according to the approach (C* implies possible prebiotic synthesis under specific and narrow conditions [4]). Regular black letters represent amino acids that have not been resolved as either early or late by the approach. LUCA: last universal common ancestor; LECA: last eukaryotic common ancestor; rTCA: tricarboxylic acid cycle. -- Trends in Genetics](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Reconstructing.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
Reconstructing Ancient Protein Alphabets: What Can We Truly Infer?
[Trends in Genetics] The canonical amino acid alphabet has remained remarkably stable since life’s early stages, yet the factors that shaped its emergence remain debated. Early views emphasized prebiotic availability […]
![Time evolution for two morphological dynamics in PISA specimens: (a) gelation takes place in an oxygen-poor PISA specimen, (b) “Phoenix” dynamics take place in the oxygen-rich PISA specimen (Adapted with permission from reference [19]).-- [Life]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Degradation.png?resize=1200%2C718&ssl=1)
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Degradation, Osmosis and the Emergence of Basic Functionalities in Abiotic Synthetic Life-like Chemical Systems
[Life] Autonomous and interconnected multiscale out-of-equilibrium processes, including chemical and physical feedbacks, occur at the micron and lower scales during the heterotrophic synthesis of simple abiotic protocells, such as the […]
![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)
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life
Codepoietic Biological Evolution: From The Origin Of Life To Eukaryogenesis
[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.
![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 […]
![Scan of the density µ (order parameter), with constant resource abundance r as control parameter. Standard deviation around the mean (coloured area) over independent simulations for a given volume |Ω|. Edges of growth and droplet stability (dotted and dashed lines). Scale ratio λ = 3, initial state with 2 seeds, cutoff time tmax = 5000. -- [physics.bio-ph]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Continuous-Game.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Continuous Game of Life: Cell Emergence And Self-organization At The Edge Of Growth
[physics.bio-ph] Conway’s Game of Life shows that simple rules can generate a rich diversity of emerging structures. This cellular automaton has been translated to continuous space by Rafler (2011) in […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
Pinpointing Where Cells First Begin Copying DNA
[Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Medical Sciences] Every time a cell divides, it must faithfully copy its entire genetic instruction manual. Errors during this process can damage the genome, […]
![Hypergraph percolation accelerates the emergence of large-scale biological organization. The growth of integrated organizational complexity is compared in systems governed by pairwise interactions and higher-order hypergraph interactions. Complexity is quantified as the percentage of elementary units incorporated into the largest connected organizational assembly as interaction density increases. The pairwise model exhibits a gradual increase in connectivity, whereas the hypergraph model displays a sharp transition associated with the formation of extensive higherorder connectivity. Inset A enlarges the transition region and shows the growth of the largest connected component as a function of interaction density. Therefore, higher-order interactions can generate abrupt increases in large-scale organization through hypergraph percolation dynamics. -- [q-bio.OT]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/From-simple-interactions.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
From Simple Interactions To Complex Biology: A Hypergraph Percolation Perspective
[q-bio.OT] The emergence of biological complexity can be viewed as a transition from fragmented local interactions to extensive integrated organization, raising the question of how large-scale connectivity emerges from simple […]
Posted inMicrobiology & Virology
Bacteria Form Herds To Survive Predators, Offering Fresh Insight Into Earth’s Carbon Cycle
[Queen Mary University of London] Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have discovered that tiny photosynthetic bacteria band together into protective “herds” when attacked by predators – a survival […]