E.T. may be able to phone home – or “home phone” if we’re quoting the little guy correctly – but humans require a little more info using extraterrestrial biosignatures to figure out where aliens come from.
Author: ZackCohen
I am a graduate student in the Chemistry Department and Astrobiology Program at University of Washington. I study fatty acid membranes and roles that those membranes could have during the origins of life on Earth. I also enjoy mountain sports, cooking, and time travel movies.
Drying droplets could have been compartments during the origin of life
Primary source information: Title: Impact of wet-dry cycling on the phase behavior and compartmentalization properties of complex coacervates Authors: Hadi M. Fares, Alexander E. Marras, Jeffrey M. Ting, Matthew V. Tirrell, and Christine D. Keating. Journal: Nat Commun 11, 5423 (2020) Think about combining oil and…
Ribose delivered to Earth by meteorites: clues for the origin of life?
The chemical composition of meteorites provides important information about which building blocks might have been available for the origin of life on Earth.
Fast reactions by ribonucleotides might be a key to the origin of life on Earth
If RNA is essential for life to develop, how could it emerge from messy chemical mixtures on early Earth?