Inhabited Planets tagged posts

New Recipes for Origin of Life may point way to Distant, Inhabited Planets

In an artist's rendering, a swirl of planets in blue and orange hues spiral toward a bright orange vortex in the center of the image. Chemical formulas appear written on the planets.
Life requires repetition of chemical reactions. Describing the kinds of reactions and conditions required for self-sustaining repetition — called autocatalysis — could focus the search for life on other planets. Betül Kaçar

Life on a faraway planet—if it’s out there—might not look anything like life on Earth. But there are only so many chemical ingredients in the universe’s pantry, and only so many ways to mix them. A team led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has exploited those limitations to write a cookbook of hundreds of chemical recipes with the potential to give rise to life.

Their ingredient list could focus the search for life elsewhere in the universe by pointing out the most likely conditions—planetary versions of mixing techniques, oven tem...

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