Cometary Impacts May Have Provided Key Elements of Life
trendspotter writes with news of research indicating that impact events might be responsible for seeding the Earth with reactive forms of the precursors to amino acids. From the article: "Early Earth was not very hospitable when it came to jump starting life. In fact, new research shows that life on Earth may have come from out of this world. Lawrence Livermore scientist Nir Goldman and University of Ontario Institute of Technology colleague Isaac Tamblyn (a former LLNL postdoc) found that icy comets that crashed into Earth millions of years ago could have produced life building organic compounds, including the building blocks of proteins and nucleobases pairs of DNA and RNA. Comets contain a variety of simple molecules, such as water, ammonia, methanol and carbon dioxide, and an impact event with a planetary surface would provide an abundant supply of energy to drive chemical reactions." The paper (PDF).
dna
earth
elements
goldman
institute
isaac
lawrence livermore
llnl
million
nir
ontario
pdf
reaction
rna
scientists
tamblyn
technology
university
Ancient Antarctic microbes suggest life but not as we know it
In a study released last week, scientists attached to Nevada’s Desert Research Institute (DRI) revealed the existence of bacteria in one of Earth’s most alien habitats, 20 metres below a frozen lake in Antarctica.
antarctic
antarctica
dri
earth
existence
institute
nevada
scientists
Craig Venter Wants To Rebuild Martian Life In Earth Lab
Hugh Pickens writes "Karen Kaplan reports in the LA Times that Craig Venter is making plans to send a DNA sequencer to Mars. Assuming there is DNA to be found on the Red Planet – a big assumption, to be sure – the sequencer will decode its DNA, beam it back to Earth, put those genetic instructions into a cell and then boot up a Martian life form in a biosecure lab. Venter's 'biological teleporter' (as he dubbed it) would dig under the surface for samples to sequence. If they find anything, 'it would take only 4.3 minutes to get the Martians back to Earth,' says Venter, founder of Celera Genomics and the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). 'Now we can rebuild the Martians in a P4 spacesuit lab.' It may sound far-fetched, but the notion of equipping a future Mars rover to sequence the DNA isn't so crazy, and Venter isn't the only one looking for Martian DNA. MIT research scientist Christopher Carr is part of a group that's 'building a a miniature RNA/DNA sequencer to search for life ...
assumption
carr
celera
christopher
craig
dna
earth
genomics
hugh pickens
institute
instructions
ion
kaplan
karen
lab
life
mars
martian
martians
mit
notion
red
rna
scientists
sequence
setg
tigr
venter
Found more than 1 month ago on channel
Slashdot
Mt. Fuji May Be Close To Erupting
SpuriousLogic points out an article at Wired discussing research into pressure levels inside Mt. Fuji's magma chamber, which scientists claim is higher than it was in 1707, the last time it erupted. "The new readings, taken by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, reveal that the pressure is at 1.6 megapascals, nearly 16 times the 0.1 megapascals it takes to trigger an eruption." A series of earthquakes shook the area around Mt. Fuji a little over a decade ago, and a fault line was discovered underneath it. "Since the March 2011 tsunami and the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that followed four days later, Japan has been on tenterhooks, and in May 2012 a professor from Ryukyu University warned that a massive eruption within three years would be likely because of several major factors: steam and gases are being emitted from the crater, water eruptions are occurring nearby, massive holes emitting hot natural gases are appearing in the vicinity." While the rising ...
earth
eruption
fuji
institute
japan
national
prevention
ryukyu
science
scientists
spuriouslogic
university
vicinity
Found more than 1 month ago on channel
Slashdot