Editor’s note: here on Earth we have yet to complete catalog all of the species of life on our planet. Over the centuries improved ways of characterizing life forms and […]
![Biopolymer Solvent scoring. (A) Relationship between the fraction of the biopolymer compatible range and the liquid range of solvents and the average fractional efficiency for conversion of folding free energy to sequence information, for 54 solvents at 1 atm. Large black circle: water. Green circles: hydrocarbons. Magenta circles: small substances from C, H, O, N and S. Grey circles: other solvents in Table 1. Black line: range for water calculated from the uncertainty in the dynamic transition temperature presented in Figure 3 (values range from 180 to 230K). The grey lines indicate constant values of the BSscore (Equation [9]). (B) Ranking of the solvents according to the BSscore. -- astro-ph.EP](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/solvent.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
We propose that spontaneous folding and molecular evolution of biopolymers are two universal aspects that must concur for life to happen.
UMass Amherst researchers have pushed forward the boundaries of biomedical engineering one hundredfold with a new method for DNA detection with unprecedented sensitivity.
The Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth, plunges nearly 11,000 meters at its lowest point on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Life persists in the deep and cold […]
Life requires repetition of chemical reactions. Describing the kinds of reactions and conditions required for self-sustaining repetition — called autocatalysis — could focus the search for life on other planets.
![Examples of prebiotic analogue conditions. (A) A boiling, hydrothermal pool on Mount Mutnovsky, an active volcano south of Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, Russia. The author is pointing at a membranous froth produced by myristic acid added to the pool [4]. Photo credit: Tony Hoffman). (B) Hydrothermal water in Bumpass Hell on Mount Lassen, California (photograph by author). (C) Hydrothermal pools in Hell’s Gate, near Rotorua, New Zealand (Photograph by author). (D) Fly Geyser in the Black Rock playa of northern Nevada (credit: Bruce Damer). -- Life](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Template.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
The commonly supposed template-based format for RNA self-replication requires both duplex assembly and disassembly.
![Effect of temperature on the peptide aggregation process. Left: side view of (ODAP—STEP) bilayer systems with peptides at 0 ns (a) and 500 ns at 353 K (b), 338 K (c), and 323 K (d); KSPFPFAA peptides are shown in mauve, while ODAP and STEP are in gray and green, respectively. Right: number of the clusters as a function of time formed during the 500 ns MD simulation with cutoff 0.6 nm at 353 K (e) (previously reported by the authors in Ref. [44]), 338 K (f), and 323 (g) -- Life](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/structural.png?resize=1200%2C716&ssl=1)
The chemical evolution of biomolecules was clearly affected by the overall extreme environmental conditions found on Early Earth.
The International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory is collaborating with NASA on a solicitation to advance research on cancer and other diseases.
We present a mathematical definition schema for measuring life level that is to give options to describe how much a (generalized) organism is alive. It is just a definition schema, […]
New chemistry, new enzymology. With a new method that merges the best of two worlds — the unique and complementary activities of enzymes and small-molecule photochemistry — researchers at UC […]
