Comet 3I/ATLAS continues to make astonishing headlines, thanks to new findings from astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), of which the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy […]
organic chemistry
![Kinetic processes of the strand-based RNA reactor model [12,13,15] and their projection onto motif kinetics. We consider heteropolymer strands consisting of the two complementary nucleotides X and Y, which could represent RNA or DNA nucleotides. (a) Schematic of the reactions within the strand reactor, including hybridization, dehybridization, templated ligation, and cleavage of oligonucleotide strands. Strands that are not covalently linked are separated by small gaps; four-nucleotide motifs, including 3′ or 5′ ends, are highlighted in green. In templated ligation, a 3′- and a 5′-end motif build a six-nucleotide motif that contains three overlapping four-nucleotide motifs. (b) At the level of sequence motifs, the kinetics are based on motif production and motif breakage reactions. In four-nucleotide motifs, strand ends are marked with 3′ or 5′, respectively. Templated ligation generates longer strands containing additional motifs, thereby contributing to motif production, while strand cleavage leads to to motif breakage. Hybridization is not explicitly represented in the motif-level description; instead, it is implicitly incorporated into the rate constants for motif production and breakage by assuming a hybridization-dehybridization equilibrium and deducing the corresponding dissociation constants. -- Physical Review E](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Sequence-Motif-Dynamics.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Sequence Motif Dynamics In RNA Pools
In RNA world scenarios, pools of RNA oligomers form strongly interacting, dynamic systems, which enable molecular evolution.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Metrology of Complexity and Implications for the Study of the Emergence of Life
One of the longest standing open problems in science is how life arises from non-living matter.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Low-energy Glycine Formation And Spectral Masking In Star-forming Regions
The presence of amino acids in comets and meteorites has long suggested that prebiotic molecules may have formed in space and contributed to the origins of life on Earth.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report
Detection Of CO2 Ice In The Planetary Nebula NGC 6302
Using JWST/MIRI observations, we report the detection of CO2 ice in the dusty torus of the planetary nebula NGC 6302, an environment generally considered hostile to fragile molecular species and […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Astrochemistry In The Central Molecular Zone Of The Milky Way
Astronomers have captured the central region of our Milky Way in a striking new image, unveiling a complex network of filaments of cosmic gas in unprecedented detail. Obtained with the […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Experimental And Computational Studies Of The Hydrogenation Of Carbon Disulfide (CS2) On Ice Analogues
Carbon disulfide (CS2) is one of the sulfur-bearing species expected to be present in the interstellar medium (ISM). In this study, we investigated the surface reactions of solid CS2 with […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Sample Return
Stringent Selection On Kinetics Of Condensation Reactions: Early Steps In Chemical Evolution
The emergence of chemical selectivity poses a central challenge in origins-of-life research. As demonstrated by analyses of asteroid and meteorite samples, abiotic chemistry is incredibly messy.
![Simulation results of abundance ratios [H2O2]/[H2O] (black lines), [H2]/[H2O] (orange lines), and [O2]/[H2O] (blue lines) with our model (model A) at 16 K (solid lines) and 77 K (dashed lines). The gray shaded and line filled regions show the experimental results of [H2O2]/[H2O] by Gomis et al. (2004a) at 16 and 77 K, respectively, with an assumed uncertainty of a factor of 3. -- astro-ph.GA](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Simulation-of-proton-radiolysis.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inAI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report
Simulation Of Proton Radiolysis Of H2O And O2 Ices With The Nautilus Code
The radiolysis effect of cosmic rays (CRs) plays an important role in the chemistry in molecular clouds. CRs can dissociate the molecules on dust grains, producing reactive suprathermal species and […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Astrochemistry: JWST Locates Supernova Progenitor Was Surrounded By Carbon-rich Dust
For the first time, astronomers have used images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to identify a supernova progenitor that could not be seen by any other telescope: a […]