Precursors

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers discovered water and organic molecules in a planet-forming disk around a young star in an extreme environment, revealing that Earth-like planets could form even under harsh conditions. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.comPlanets like our Earth, including planets with water, could form even in the harshest known star-forming environments, drenched by hard UV light from massive stars. That is the main result of analyses of new observations of such an environment with…

Full-body forensic reconstruction of a woolly dog based on a 160-year-old pelt in the Smithsonian's collection as well as archaeological remains. Credit: Karen Carr This week, scientists reported on drinking beer, Saturnian expulsions, an ancient North American dog breed, and cats playing dogs' favorite game, fetch. Beer flattering Let no frontier go…

Artistic composition of a “soup” of prebiotic molecules around a protoplanetary disc. Credit: Gabriel Pérez Díaz (IAC)A study led by the researcher Susana Iglesias of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias has detected the presence of large quantities of complex organic molecules in one of the nearest star-forming regions to the Solar System. The results of this have been published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.The scientists Susan Iglesias-Groth, of the Instituto de Astrofísica de…

Origins of Geometric Deep LearningGeometric Deep Learning approaches a broad class of ML problems from the perspectives of symmetry and invariance, providing a common blueprint for the “zoo” of neural network architectures. In the last post in our series on the origins of Geometric Deep Learning, we look at the precursors of Graph Neural Networks.Image: Shutterstock.In the last post from the “Towards Geometric Deep Learning” series, we discuss how early prototypes of GNNs emerged in the field of chemistry in the 1960s.…

Researchers have spotted traces of an organic class of molecules that are a precursor to molecules essential for life. Located in the centre of the Milky Way, these building blocks that combine to form ribonucleic acid (RNA) could help scientists understand how life emerges in the universe. It is believed that originally life was based on only RNA on Earth while deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and protein enzymes evolved later. RNA can perform the functions of both DNA and enzymes by storing and copying information and…

The heart of the Milky Way is apparently a hotspot for molecules that combine to form RNA.A new survey of the thick, molecular clouds that shroud the galactic center has revealed the presence of a wide range of nitriles – organic molecules that are often toxic in isolation, but also constitute the building blocks of molecules essential for life.  The increase in prebiotic molecules (molecules involved in the emergence of life) identified in the galactic center, particularly those associated with RNA, has implications for…