News
Supernova Neutrinos And The Origin of Biomolecular Homochirality
12+ hour, 39+ min ago (195+ words) We introduce neutrino interactions into the autocatalytic chemical reactions in a far-from-equilibrium noise-induced system. These interactions create a directional bias between L and D enantiomers in the racemization reactions, which is amplified by autocatalysis and stochastic fluctuations. Chemical scheme of…...
Bacteria Form Herds To Survive Predators, Offering Fresh Insight Into Earth's Carbon Cycle
12+ hour, 9+ min ago (257+ words) The research helps explain a long-standing biological mystery: why cyanobacteria invest energy in forming flocs despite the apparent cost to their growth. The findings suggest the behaviour is an evolved defense mechanism that could have implications extending from microbial ecology…...
Planets Orbiting Barnard’s Star Seem To Be Small, Strange, And Utterly Uninhabitable
12+ hour, 2+ min ago (547+ words) [University of Cambridge] Scientists have painted the most detailed portrait yet of the planetary system orbiting Barnard’s Star – the Sun’s closest neighbour after Alpha Centauri, just under six light-years from Earth. Discovered in 2025, the four planets orbiting Barnard’s Star are…...
Mars Perseverance Rover's Panoramic View of Broom Point
11+ hour, 57+ min ago (292+ words) Mars Perseverance Rover’s Panoramic View of Broom Point Astrobiology Web [NASA] The bright-colored rocks exposed across the slope, running from middle left to middle right of the image, belong to a formation the science team calls the “Broom Point member,…...
Experimental Astrochemistry And Machine Learning Unravel The Formation Of Oxygen-bearing Organic Molecules In Extraterrestrial Ices
12+ hour, 6+ min ago (92+ words) Astrobiology Web [Nature Communications Chemistry] Oxygen-bearing organic molecules, including aldehydes, alcohols, and peroxides, serve as key precursors to complex organics in extraterrestrial environments. Their non-equilibrium formation mechanisms critically constrain the molecular complexity available for prebiotic chemistry. Here we introduce a…...
Alien World Chemistry Found Inside A Meteorite that Struck A New Jersey Home
1+ day, 8+ hour ago (633+ words) [SETI Institute] On July 16, 2024 a daytime meteor shook New York City with a sonic boom as it passed just south of the Statue of Liberty. Now, an international team of researchers reports in the journal Science Advances that a short…...
Exoplanet Beta Pictoris d Found After More Than 10 Years Of Searching
1+ day, 11+ hour ago (200+ words) Astronomers have discovered a third planet orbiting the star Beta Pictoris using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). The new planet, Beta Pictoris d, is among the lightest exoplanets ever to be imaged from the ground. After the initial discovery, the…...
Distant Exoplanets May Be Hiding Water Beyond Webb Telescope's Reach, Study Finds
1+ day, 12+ hour ago (887+ words) [University of Chicago] The planets that appear most common in the universe could have a lot of water—but it could be hiding where telescopes can’t detect it, according to a new study led by scientists with the University of…...
Biosignature Detectability On Transiting Habitable Worlds With ELT/ANDES
1+ day, 11+ hour ago (229+ words) Astrobiology Web [astro-ph.EP] The search for life beyond the Solar System is at a turning point, transitioning from theoretical predictions to observations enabled by next-generation observatories. The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will host the ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph…...
When Stabilizing Feedbacks Wreak Havoc In Habitable Planets: Chaos At The Freezing Point In A Four-Feedback Climate Model
1+ day, 11+ hour ago (241+ words) Astrobiology Web [astro-ph.EP] The long-term habitability of Earth-like planets is governed by the balance of positive and negative climate feedbacks that regulate surface temperature and atmospheric composition. While some feedbacks, such as ice-albedo and silicate weathering, are thought to…...