The RNA World hypothesis predicts that self-replicating RNAs evolved before DNA genomes and coded proteins. Despite widespread support for the RNA World, self-replicating RNAs have yet to be identified in […]
RNA
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
On the Origin of Information Dynamics in Early Life
We hypothesize that predictable variations in environmental conditions caused by night/day cycles created opportunities and hazards that initiated information dynamics central to life’s origin.
Posted inAI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Citizen Science / Open Science, Commercial & Private Sector, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Status Report
Genome Modeling And Design Across All Domains Of Life With Evo 2
All of life encodes information with DNA. While tools for sequencing, synthesis, and editing of genomic code have transformed biological research, intelligently composing new biological systems would also require a […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Recoding A Genome For Programmable Synthetic Proteins
Synthetic biologists from Yale were able to re-write the genetic code of an organism — a novel genomically recoded organism (GRO) with one stop codon — using a cellular platform […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Missions & Hardware, Press Release
Life’s Building Blocks Discovered In Samples From Asteroid Bennu
Japanese collaborators detected all five nucleobases — building blocks of DNA and RNA — in samples returned from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Sample Return
Pristine Asteroid Samples Reveal Secrets Of The Ancient Solar System
Curtin University researchers have gained an unprecedented glimpse into the early history of our solar system through some of the most well-preserved asteroid samples ever collected, potentially transforming our understanding […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Sample Return
Exploring The Mysteries Of Asteroid Bennu
During the past year, there’s been an unusual set of samples at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab): material gathered from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu when […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Sample Return
Dust From asteroid Bennu: Building Blocks Of Life And Possible Habitats Were Widespread In Our Solar System
It took two years for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx space probe to return from asteroid Bennu before dropping off a small capsule as it flew past Earth, which was then recovered in […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Sample Return
Traces Of Ancient Brine Discovered On Asteroid Bennu Contain Minerals Crucial To Life
A new analysis of samples from the asteroid Bennu, NASA’s first asteroid sample captured in space and delivered to Earth, reveals that evaporated water left a briny broth where salts […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Sample Return
Asteroid Bennu Sample Reveals A Mix Of Life’s Ingredients
Studies of rock and dust from asteroid Bennu delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security–Regolith Explorer) spacecraft have revealed molecules that, on our planet, […]