Will we ever understand how life got started on Earth? We’ve learned much about Earth’s long, multi-billion-year history, but a detailed understanding of how the planet’s atmospheric chemistry evolved still eludes us. At one time, Earth was atmospherically hostile, and its transition from that state to a planet teeming with life followed a complex path.
Continue reading “Lessons From Ancient Earth’s Atmosphere: From Hostile to Hospitable”Linking Organic Molecules to Hydrothermal Vents on Enceladus
Despite the vast distance between us and Saturn’s gleaming moon Enceladus, the icy ocean moon is a prime target in our search for life. It vents water vapour and large organic molecules into space through fissures in its icy shell, which is relatively thin compared to other icy ocean moons like Jupiter’s Europa. Though still out of reach, scientific access to its ocean is not as challenging as on Europa, which has a much thicker ice shell.
Continue reading “Linking Organic Molecules to Hydrothermal Vents on Enceladus”Cosmic Dust Could Spread Life from World to World Across the Galaxy
Does life appear independently on different planets in the galaxy? Or does it spread from world to world? Or does it do both?
New research shows how life could spread via a basic, simple pathway: cosmic dust.
Continue reading “Cosmic Dust Could Spread Life from World to World Across the Galaxy”Finally, Let’s Look at the Asteroid Treasure Returned to Earth by OSIRIS-REx
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx delivered its precious cargo to Earth on September 24th, 2023. The sample from asteroid Bennu is contained inside the spacecraft’s sampling head, and it’s in safe hands at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Two stubborn fasteners delayed the opening of the sampling head, but they’ve been removed, and now we can see inside.
What looks like unremarkable dirt is primordial asteroidal material that’s billions of years old, a natural treasure trove that eager scientists can’t wait to begin studying.
Continue reading “Finally, Let’s Look at the Asteroid Treasure Returned to Earth by OSIRIS-REx”Toxic Gas is Leaking out of Enceladus. It’s also a Building Block of Life.
Enceladus’ status as a target in the search for life keeps rising. We’ve known for years that plumes erupting from the ocean under the moon’s icy shell contain important organic compounds related to life. Now, researchers have found another chemical in the plumes which is not only highly toxic but also critical in the appearance of life.
Continue reading “Toxic Gas is Leaking out of Enceladus. It’s also a Building Block of Life.”A Hypervelocity Experiment Mimics the Surface Conditions of Ceres
It might be oxymoronic to say that the more we find out about something, the more mysterious it becomes. But if that’s true of anything in our Solar System, it might be true about Ceres, the largest body in the main asteroid belt.
Continue reading “A Hypervelocity Experiment Mimics the Surface Conditions of Ceres”JWST Sees Organic Molecules Ludicrously Far Away
When astronomers used the JWST to look at a galaxy more than 12 billion light years away, they were also looking back in time. And when they found organic molecules in that distant galaxy, they found them in the early Universe.
The organic molecules are usually found where stars are forming, but in this case, they’re not.
Continue reading “JWST Sees Organic Molecules Ludicrously Far Away”Meteorites Bathed in Gamma Rays Produce More Amino Acids and Could Have Helped Life get Going on Earth
Our modern telescopes are more powerful than their predecessors, and our research is more focused than ever. We keep discovering new things about the Solar System and finding answers to long-standing questions. But one of the big questions we still don’t have an answer for is: ‘How did life on Earth begin?’
Continue reading “Meteorites Bathed in Gamma Rays Produce More Amino Acids and Could Have Helped Life get Going on Earth”Webb Sees Organic Molecules in the Hearts of Galaxies, Surprisingly Close to Active Supermassive Black Holes
When the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) launched, one of its jobs was studying galactic formation and evolution. When we look around the Universe, today’s galaxies take the shape of grand spirals like the Whirlpool galaxy and giant ellipticals like M60. But galaxies didn’t always look like this.
We don’t see these shapes when we look at the most distant and most ancient galaxies. Early galaxies are lumpy and misshapen and lack the structure of modern galaxies.
A new study based on JSWT observations looks at organic molecules near galactic centers. The researchers say observing these molecules can teach us a lot about galactic evolution.
Continue reading “Webb Sees Organic Molecules in the Hearts of Galaxies, Surprisingly Close to Active Supermassive Black Holes”Even More Complex Organic Molecules Have Been Found in a Protoplanetary Disc. Was Life Inevitable?
Will we ever understand life’s origins? Will we ever be able to put our finger on the exact moment and circumstances that lead to living matter? Will we ever pinpoint the spark? Who knows.
But what we can do is find out how widespread the conditions for life are and how widespread the molecular constituents for life are.
Continue reading “Even More Complex Organic Molecules Have Been Found in a Protoplanetary Disc. Was Life Inevitable?”