Viewing Posts tagged: molecules

Organic Carbon from Mars, but Not Biological ScienceDaily (May 24, 2012) — Molecules containing large chains of carbon and hydrogen—the building blocks of all life on Earth—have been the targets of missions to Mars from Viking to the present day. While these molecules have previously been found in meteorites from Mars, scientists have disagreed about how this organic carbon was formed and whether or not it came from Mars.

Organic Carbon from Mars, but Not Biological

ScienceDaily (May 24, 2012) — Molecules containing large chains of carbon and hydrogen—the building blocks of all life on Earth—have been the targets of missions to Mars from Viking to the present day. While these molecules have previously been found in meteorites from Mars, scientists have disagreed about how this organic carbon was formed and whether or not it came from Mars.

• Posted Friday May 25 11pm  2 notes

 
 

Unusual Quantum Effect Discovered in Earliest Stages of Photosynthesis ScienceDaily (May 24, 2012) — Quantum physics and plant biology seem like two branches of science that could not be more different, but surprisingly they may in fact be intimately tied.

Unusual Quantum Effect Discovered in Earliest Stages of Photosynthesis

ScienceDaily (May 24, 2012) — Quantum physics and plant biology seem like two branches of science that could not be more different, but surprisingly they may in fact be intimately tied.

• Posted Friday May 25 10pm  1 note

 
 

Surprise: Protons Bypass Hydrogen Bonds but Still Change Molecules ScienceDaily (Mar. 18, 2012) — When a proton — the bare nucleus of a hydrogen atom — transfers from one molecule to another, or moves within a molecule, the result is a hydrogen bond, in which the proton and another atom like nitrogen or oxygen share electrons. Conventional wisdom has it that proton transfers can only happen using hydrogen bonds as conduits, “proton wires” of hydrogen-bonded networks that can connect and reconnect to alter molecular properties.

Surprise: Protons Bypass Hydrogen Bonds but Still Change Molecules

ScienceDaily (Mar. 18, 2012) — When a proton — the bare nucleus of a hydrogen atom — transfers from one molecule to another, or moves within a molecule, the result is a hydrogen bond, in which the proton and another atom like nitrogen or oxygen share electrons. Conventional wisdom has it that proton transfers can only happen using hydrogen bonds as conduits, “proton wires” of hydrogen-bonded networks that can connect and reconnect to alter molecular properties.

• Posted Tuesday Mar 20 1am  1 note

 
 

rhamphotheca: How Earth’s Primordial Soup Came to Life by Clara Moskowitz Just as species are thought to have evolved over time, the individual molecules that form the basis of life also likely developed in response to natural selection, scientists say. Life on Earth first bloomed around 3.7 billion years ago, when chemical compounds in a “primordial soup” somehow sparked into life, scientists suspect. But what turned sterile molecules into living, changing organisms? That’s the ultimate mystery. By studying the evolution of not just life, but life’s building blocks as well, researchers hope to come closer to the answer. The molecules swimming in early Earth’s primordial soup would have been continually destroyed by ultraviolet radiation from the sun, as well as heat and other processes on the planet. But when certain special pairs of molecules combined to form a larger compound, they sometimes came out with protections that neither had alone. “When molecules interact, they start taking on properties they don’t have as individuals, but do gain when they’re in a complex,” Robert Root-Bernstein, a physiologist at Michigan State University, said Sunday (Feb. 19) here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “This provides a means of natural selection.”… (read more: Live Science)     (image: NASA | JPL)

rhamphotheca:

How Earth’s Primordial Soup Came to Life

by Clara Moskowitz

Just as species are thought to have evolved over time, the individual molecules that form the basis of life also likely developed in response to natural selection, scientists say. Life on Earth first bloomed around 3.7 billion years ago, when chemical compounds in a “primordial soup” somehow sparked into life, scientists suspect. But what turned sterile molecules into living, changing organisms? That’s the ultimate mystery.

By studying the evolution of not just life, but life’s building blocks as well, researchers hope to come closer to the answer. The molecules swimming in early Earth’s primordial soup would have been continually destroyed by ultraviolet radiation from the sun, as well as heat and other processes on the planet. But when certain special pairs of molecules combined to form a larger compound, they sometimes came out with protections that neither had alone.

“When molecules interact, they start taking on properties they don’t have as individuals, but do gain when they’re in a complex,” Robert Root-Bernstein, a physiologist at Michigan State University, said Sunday (Feb. 19) here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “This provides a means of natural selection.”…

(read more: Live Science)     (image: NASA | JPL)

View HD • Posted Tuesday Feb 21 6pm  42 notes

 
 
 
 
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