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#91
Science / Re: Space news topic and space...
Last post by Toliman - March 25, 2024, 10:56:46 PM
Study: Life's building blocks are surprisingly stable in Venus-like conditions
https://news.mit.edu/2024/study-lifes-building-blocks-surprisingly-stable-venus-conditions-0320

Results suggest the clouds of Venus could be hospitable for some forms of life.

If there is life in the solar system beyond Earth, it might be found in the clouds of Venus. In contrast to the planet's blisteringly inhospitable surface, Venus' cloud layer, which extends from 30 to 40 miles above the surface, hosts milder temperatures that could support some extreme forms of life.

If it's out there, scientists have assumed that any Venusian cloud inhabitant would look very different from life forms on Earth. That's because the clouds themselves are made from highly toxic droplets of sulfuric acid — an intensely corrosive chemical that is known to dissolve metals and destroy most biological molecules on Earth.

But a new study by MIT researchers may challenge that assumption. Appearing today in the journal Astrobiology, the study reports that, in fact, some key building blocks of life can persist in solutions of concentrated sulfuric acid.

The study's authors have found that 19 amino acids that are essential to life on Earth are stable for up to four weeks when placed in vials of sulfuric acid at concentrations similar to those in Venus' clouds. In particular, they found that the molecular "backbone" of all 19 amino acids remained intact in sulfuric acid solutions ranging in concentration from 81 to 98 percent. 

"What is absolutely surprising is that concentrated sulfuric acid is not a solvent that is universally hostile to organic chemistry," says study co-author Janusz Petkowski, a research affiliate in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS).

"We are finding that building blocks of life on Earth are stable in sulfuric acid, and this is very intriguing for the idea of the possibility of life on Venus," adds study author Sara Seager, MIT's Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Sciences in EAPS and a professor in the departments of Physics and of Aeronautics and Astronautics. "It doesn't mean that life there will be the same as here. In fact, we know it can't be. But this work advances the notion that Venus' clouds could support complex chemicals needed for life."

The study's co-authors include first author Maxwell Seager, an undergraduate in the Department of Chemistry at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Seager's son, and William Bains, a research affiliate at MIT and a scientist at Cardiff University.
#92
Spam / Re: Make a Wish, Make it Usele...
Last post by Toliman - March 25, 2024, 10:55:17 PM
Then you don't want that.


I wish for Pandorian nature on thevEarth.
#93
Spam / Re: Last letter word!
Last post by Toliman - March 25, 2024, 10:54:01 PM
Uran
#94
General Projects / Resources / Re: Definition disambiguation
Last post by Toliman - March 25, 2024, 10:52:40 PM
Txantsan  :)
#95
Spam / Re: Make a Wish, Make it Usele...
Last post by Syatikrel - March 25, 2024, 10:34:09 PM
Tomorrow a night fury appears, and the next day another one appears, and eventually the sky is filled with night furies, making it impossible to see the stars.

I wish to have a terrible terror.
(HtTYD)
#96
Spam / Re: Last letter word!
Last post by Syatikrel - March 25, 2024, 10:32:09 PM
lanteyu
#97
Science / Re: Astronomy thread/Kìng a te...
Last post by Vawmataw - March 25, 2024, 08:05:15 PM
Tonight I observed Jupiter and its four moons, Mercury, Earth's Moon, 12P/Pons-Brooks and the ISS (which passed very close to Polaris and... Navi)
#98
General Projects / Resources / Re: Definition disambiguation
Last post by Txonpay - March 25, 2024, 07:56:58 PM
And the cloud spreadsheet is updated with the new words :D
#99
General Projects / Resources / Re: Definition disambiguation
Last post by Txonpay - March 25, 2024, 07:32:24 PM
We decided it's a good idea to make it a proper noun given Reykunu also does so.

Also, I just emailed Pawl the list of ambiguously countable ASG words (with the new segregation based on how the words show up on Na'viteri) :D :D :D
#100
General Projects / Resources / Re: Definition disambiguation
Last post by Toliman - March 25, 2024, 04:38:57 PM
Hmm, I am not sure but maybe yes :)