Shedding light on the synthesis of sugars before the origin of life
Pentoses are essential carbohydrates in the metabolism of modern lifeforms, but their availability during early Earth is unclear since these molecules are unstable.
Pentoses are essential carbohydrates in the metabolism of modern lifeforms, but their availability during early Earth is unclear since these molecules are unstable.
Biochemistry
Dec 1, 2023
0
35
Nineteen million years ago, during a time known as the early Miocene, massive ice sheets in Antarctica rapidly and repeatedly grew and receded. The Miocene is widely considered a potential analog for Earth's climate in the ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 29, 2023
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115
We're inching closer and closer to reliably detecting biosignatures on distant planets. Much of the focus is on determining which chemicals indicate life's presence.
Astrobiology
Nov 17, 2023
3
59
Geochemist Alexandra Phillips has sulfur on her mind. The yellow element is a vital macronutrient, and she's trying to understand how it cycles through the environment. Specifically, she's curious about the sulfur cycle in ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 16, 2023
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119
Scientists proposed a novel idea on Wednesday that could solve two of the world's mysteries at once—one that passes over our heads every night, and one that sits far below our feet.
Planetary Sciences
Nov 4, 2023
14
116
After seven years in space and over 4 billion miles traveled, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission successfully collected and delivered the first U.S. sample from a near-Earth asteroid. Yet, after all this time and travel, the spacecraft ...
Space Exploration
Nov 1, 2023
0
215
An interdisciplinary international research team has recently discovered that a massive anomaly deep within the Earth's interior may be a remnant of the collision about 4.5 billion years ago that formed the moon.
Planetary Sciences
Nov 1, 2023
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1530
Venus, a scorching wasteland of a planet according to scientists, may have once had tectonic plate movements similar to those believed to have occurred on early Earth, a new study found. The finding sets up tantalizing scenarios ...
Astronomy
Oct 26, 2023
1
223
A new publication from a Montana State University scientist deepens existing knowledge of an ancient life-form and how it continues unique ecological processes today. The paper, titled "Methanogens acquire and bioaccumulate ...
Evolution
Oct 16, 2023
0
244
A team of Penn State scientists is working to solve one of the world's greatest unsolved mysteries: how life originated on Earth—and how it might have evolved on other planets.
Earth Sciences
Sep 29, 2023
0
6