The Secret of Life May Be As Simple As What Happens Between the Sheets -- Mica Sheets
(PhysOrg.com) -- That age-old question, "where did life on Earth start?" now has a new answer. If the life between the mica sheets hypothesis is correct, life would have originated between sheets of mica that ...
Oceans in distress foreshadow mass extinction
Pollution and global warming are pushing the world's oceans to the brink of a mass extinction of marine life unseen for tens of millions of years, a consortium of scientists warned Monday.
Curiosity rover finds conditions once suited for ancient life on Mars
(Phys.org) —An analysis of a rock sample collected by NASA's Curiosity rover shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.
Mineral magic? Common mineral capable of making and breaking bonds
Reactions among minerals and organic compounds in hydrothermal environments are critical components of the Earth's deep carbon cycle, they provide energy for the deep biosphere, and may have implications ...
Ancient microbes discovered in bitter-cold Antarctic brine
Where there's water there's life – even in brine beneath 60 feet of Antarctic ice, in permanent darkness and subzero temperatures.
The quantum secret to alcohol reactions in space
Chemists have discovered that an 'impossible' reaction at cold temperatures actually occurs with vigour, which could change our understanding of how alcohols are formed and destroyed in space.
Graphene films—highly resistant to damage—could protect metals in harsh environments
(Phys.org)—A coating so thin it's invisible to the human eye has been shown to make copper nearly 100 times more resistant to corrosion, creating tremendous potential for metal protection even in harsh ...
Quantum tunnelling could aid life's chemistry in the coldest places
New research has revealed that chemical reactions previously thought to be 'impossible' in space actually occur 'with vigour,' a discovery that could ultimately change our understanding of how alcohols are ...
Astronomers open window into Europa's ocean
(Phys.org) —With data collected from the mighty W. M. Keck Observatory, California Institute of Technology (Caltech) astronomer Mike Brown—known as the Pluto killer for discovering a Kuiper-belt object ...
Model sheds light on the chemistry that sparked the origin of life
The question of how life began on a molecular level has been a longstanding problem in science. However, recent mathematical research sheds light on a possible mechanism by which life may have gotten a foothold in the chemical ...
Researchers devise a means to control chemical reactions in individual atoms
Research in Antarctica reveals non-organic mechanism for production of important greenhouse gas
In so many ways, Don Juan Pond in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica is one of the most unearthly places on the planet. An ankle-deep mirror between mountain peaks and rubbled moraine, the pond is an astonishing ...
Scientists sound acid alarm for plankton
The microscopic organisms on which almost all life in the oceans depends could be even more vulnerable to increasingly acidic waters than scientists realised, according to a new study.
Cosmic rays alter chemistry of lunar ice
Space scientists from the University of New Hampshire and multi-institutional colleagues report they have quantified levels of radiation on the moon's surface from galactic cosmic ray (GCR) bombardment that ...