"Has the grinders on spirit and opportunity turned up anything that vaguely look like small fossils?"
Content with the tag: “organics”
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Darwin in a Test Tube
Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have discovered a way to make molecules evolve and compete according to the laws of Darwinian evolution. Using RNA, the researchers were able to demonstrate that only the fittest molecules survived in the presence of a limited resource. When resources were plentiful, molecules would become increasingly specialized through generations of replication.
This fascinating work is helping astrobiologists better understand the processes that underlie evolution. Additionally, the results could shed some light on how primitive molecules on Earth first gave live to living organisms.
The work was funded through NASA’s Exobiology & Evolutionary Biology...Source: [Astrobiology Magazine]
May 1, 2009 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal
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Baking the Rover is Not an Option
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is now being prepared for its 2009 voyage to Mars, where the rover will sniff about for traces of organic material. The mission is designed to accurately “see and taste” the martian environment like never before, and could determine if the building blocks of life are present at the planet’s surface. The problem is that many of the substances MSL is made from can release molecules that might interfere with experiments. Many steps had to be taken during the mission’s design and preparation in order to to address this issue of contamination.
Source: [Astrobiology Magazine]
November 20, 2008 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal
Biogenic formation of high-magnesium calcite in sulfide-rich systems
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1, 6.1, 7.1
Chemical Models of Nebular Processes
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1
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