[biorxiv.org] Life began with the emergence of a molecule that could replicate its own genetic material, a task plausibly mediated by an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase ribozyme.
organic chemistry
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Auroral Belts As Magnetically Localized Reactors For Prebiotic Chemistry On Early Earth
[Biosystems] Most models of prebiotic chemistry emphasize globally distributed or widely acting energy sources, including ultraviolet radiation, lightning, impacts, and energetic particles.
Posted inMars
Stability Of Uracil In Different Sulphates Under Martian-like UV Irradiation
[Icarus] Mars is one of the most probable and accessible places where life could have evolved beyond Earth.
![Conceptual diagrams of the three experimental setups used to produce the tholin samples measured in this study: (a) UNI/PAC, (b) JHU/PHAZER, (c) ARC/COSmIC featuring a diagram of the pulsed discharge nozzle adapted from Sciamma-O’Brien et al. (2014).-- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/A-Cross.png?resize=1200%2C634&ssl=1)
Posted inTitan
A Cross-Laboratory Comparison Study of Titan Haze Analogs: Surface Energy II
[astro-ph.EP] The organic haze particles on Titan play important roles in atmospheric cloud formation and aerosol-lake interactions.
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
ReactionAtlas: Ab Origine Exploration Of Chemical Reaction Networks With Machine Learning
[cs.LG] Mapping a chemical reaction network, the graph of minima and transition states (TS) and the elementary reactions connecting them, is the natural language of chemistry, from catalysis to combustion […]
Posted inTitan
Dragonfly Gets Wired Up While Titan Landing Area Is Named
[NASA]. Peeking into the clean room at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, it might be one of the first things you notice about NASA’s Dragonfly: […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Determining The “Biosignature Threshold” For Life Detection On Biotic, Abiotic, or Prebiotic Worlds.
[Astrobiology (Journal) via PubMed] The field of prebiotic chemistry has demonstrated that complex organic chemical systems that exhibit various life-like properties can be produced abiotically in the laboratory.
Posted inVenus
Study: Peptides Can Form Well-defined Structures In Harsh, Venus-like Conditions
[MIT] When exploring solar system bodies for signs of past or present life, scientists have mainly focused on planets that have (or had) a liquid surface similar to Earth’s. However, […]
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments
Rethinking The Origin Of Life At Seafloor Hydrothermal Vents
[PNAS] Alkaline vents have dominated a class of hypotheses for the origins of life since their discovery a quarter of century ago, but advances in understanding the nature of these […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
Slow-electron-triggered Chemistry In Interstellar Methanol-water Ices
[Astronomy & Astrophysics] Water and, to a lesser extent, methanol are widespread in interstellar space as ices, where sustained exposure to ionizing radiation promotes the formation of complex compounds such […]