UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA Archives - Astrobiology

A total of 154 genomes were analysed to infer HGs and reconstruct ancestral states. Each bar chart represents one terrestrial event node and its three immediate ancestors. For each node, five categories of HGs are quantified: novel, novel core, expanded, contracted and lost. The y axis indicates the number of HGs in each category of each clade. Organism silhouettes (sourced from phylopic.org and the authors, released under public domain dedication (CC0 1.0 Universal)) represent 11 terrestrial events. -- Nature

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

How Did Earth’s Animal Life Transition From Aquatic To Terrestrial Environments?

by Keith CowingNovember 22, 2025November 22, 2025

The transition from aquatic to terrestrial life has been one of the most significant evolutionary challenges. This decisive process in the evolution of life on Earth required a profound renewal […]

A new high-resolution catalogue identifies 332 submarine canyon networks on the seafloor of the Antarctic continent. Credit MARINE GEOLOGY

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ice World Subsurface Cartography: The Most Detailed Map To Date Of Antarctica’s Submarine Canyons

by Keith CowingAugust 11, 2025August 11, 2025

Submarine canyons are among the most spectacular and fascinating geological formations to be found on our ocean floors, but at an international level scientists have yet to uncover many of […]

Typical trace fossils in the scaling law. Scale bars = 1 cm. Organisms without slender body plans fall in a blueshadowed region. -- Geology

Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

The Cambrian Explosion May Have Occurred Much Earlier Than Previously Thought

by Keith CowingJune 27, 2025June 27, 2025

The Cambrian explosion was an extraordinary phenomenon in the evolution of life on the planet that led to the emergence of many animal phyla and the diversification of species. During […]

The combination of theoretical models and empirical data provides a new perspective for understanding the complex interactions between young stars and their environments. Credit: Paolo Padoan, Liubin Pan, Veli-Matti Pelkonen, Troels Haugbølle and Ake Nordlund

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

New Discovery Changes Views On Star And Planet Formation

by Keith CowingApril 30, 2025

A study led by Paolo Padoan, ICREA research professor at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) and currently on leave at Dartmouth College (United States), […]

Evolutionary scenario of Fgf subfamilies in chordates. a) Evolutionary tree of chordate subphyla indicating main events of losses (L), gains (G), duplications (D), or expansions by burst of duplications (E), as well as main associated patterns of conservation, innovation, function shuffling and extinction of Fgf expression domains. -- Animals

Fossils & Paleontology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

A New Evolutionary Scenario Marked By Massive Gene Loss And Expansion

by Keith CowingFebruary 11, 2025

Evolution is traditionally associated with a process of increasing complexity and gaining new genes.

Cold RNA misfolding and phase transitions. (A) Illustration of a multi-colored free-energy landscape (FEL) at different temperatures. The temperature arrow indicates the tendency to explore low-lying energy states with the FEL becoming rougher upon cooling: from high (red) to intermediate (green) and low (blue) temperatures. Transition state (TS) distances are typically shorter for M than N, denoting disordered and compact misfolded structures. The encircled schematic folds are for illustration purposes. (B) Temperature-dependent entropy (black) and enthalpy (grey) of N for H1L12A (empty symbols) and H1L4A (full symbols). The results are reported in Table S5 and S6, Supp. Info. Fits to the entropy values in the hot (red) and cold (blue) regimes for H1L12A (solid lines) and H1L4A (dashed lines) are also shown. The transition between the two regimes occurs at TG ⇠ 293K ⇠ 20C (dashed grey band) with a sudden change in Cp. Inset. Stability curves of H1L12A (empty black circles) and H1L4A (solid grey squares). Maximum stability is found at TS ⇠ 278K ⇠ 5C (vertical black line) with melting temperatures at TH ⇠ 370K ⇠ 100C (red lines). Extrapolations of G0(T) in the cold regime predict cold denaturation at TC ⇠ 220K ⇠ 50C for both hairpins (blue lines). -- PNAS

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Press Release

A New Biochemistry For RNA At Low Temperatures

by Keith CowingSeptember 11, 2024September 11, 2024

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a biological molecule with crucial functions in the genetics of organisms and plays a key role in the origin and evolution of life. With a composition […]

Extreme Volcanism Did Not Cause The Late Cretaceous Massive Extinction

by Keith CowingSeptember 21, 2021

A study published in the journal Geology rules out that extreme volcanic episodes had any influence on the massive extinction of species in the late Cretaceous. The results confirm the […]