Related papers: Life in solid ice
The results of experiments on the formation of molecular hydrogen on low density and high density amorphous ice surfaces are analyzed using a rate equation model. The activation energy barriers for the relevant diffusion and desorption…
Convective flows coupled with solidification or melting in water bodies play a major role in shaping geophysical landscapes. Particularly in relation to the global climate warming scenario, it is essential to be able to accurately quantify…
We study the formation conditions of icy planetesimals in protoplanetary disks in order to determine the composition of ices in small and cold extrasolar planets. Assuming that ices are formed from hydrates, clathrates, and pure…
The complex physicochemical structures and chemical reactions in living organism have some common features: (1) The life processes take place in the cytosol in the cells, which, from a physicochemical point of view is an emulsion of…
In a pioneering study experimental evidence was sought of thermosynthesis, a theoretical biological mechanism for free energy gain from thermal cycling that has been invoked as energy source for the origin of life. A PCR machine applied…
Living systems continuously transform matter and energy through the chemical processes that constitute their metabolism. The overall metabolic rate of an organism correlates positively with its body mass, however both the exact scaling…
Water adopts many different crystal structures in its solid form. These provide insight into potential structures of water even in its liquid phase, and they can be used to calibrate pair potentials used for simulation of water. In crowded…
An active microbiota, reaching up to 10 E+7 cells/g, was found to inhabit a naturally occurring asphalt lake characterized by low water activity and elevated temperature. Geochemical and molecular taxonomic approaches revealed novel and…
If life is sustained by a process of photosynthesis, not necessarily the same existing on Earth, the surface temperature of the star and the orbit of the host planet cannot be whatsoever. In fact the global life cycle, no matter how…
Context. The level of porosity of interstellar ices - largely comprised of amorphous solid water (ASW) - contains clues on the trapping capacity of other volatile species and determines the surface accessibility that is needed for solid…
Recent detections of carbon-bearing molecules in the atmosphere of a candidate Hycean world, K2-18 b, with JWST are opening the prospects for characterising potential biospheres on temperate exoplanets. Hycean worlds are a recently…
Water ice is one of the most abundant materials in dense molecular clouds and in the outer reaches of protoplanetary disks. In contrast to other materials (e.g., silicates) water ice is assumed to be stickier due to its higher specific…
Ice mantles play a crucial role in shaping the astrochemical inventory of molecules during star and planet formation. Small-scale molecular processes have a profound impact on large-scale astronomical evolution. The areas of solid-state…
Life has a special status, it even has its own science: biology. In many ways, the logic of life seems to differ from that of atoms, molecules, planets, or any other `inanimate object'. However, life is increasingly measured using…
The path toward the emergence of life in our biosphere involved several key events allowing for the persistence, reproduction and evolution of molecular systems. All these processes took place in a given environmental context and required…
After Earth's origin, our host star, the Sun, was shining 20 to 25 percent less brightly than today. Without greenhouse-like conditions to warm the atmosphere, our early planet would have been an ice ball and life may never have evolved.…
It is not currently possible to create a living organism ab initio due to the overwhelming complexity of biological systems. In fact, the origin of life mechanism, this being how biological organisms form from non-living matter, is unknown.…
Organic molecules such as steroids or amino acids form crystals that can facilitate the formation of ice -- arguably the most important phase transition on earth. However, the origin of the ice nucleating ability of organic crystals is…
Liquid water is a critical component of habitability. However, the production and stability of surficial liquid water can be challenging on planets outside the Habitable Zone and devoid of adequate greenhouse warming. On such cold, icy…
The phenomenon of life is discussed within a framework of its origin as defined by four hypotheses. The 1. hypothesis says: Life, as we know, is (H-C-N-O) based and relies on the number of bulk (Na-Mg-P-S-Cl-K-Ca) and trace elements…