The Many Worlds site has been down for almost two weeks following the crash of the server used to publish it. We never expected it would take quite this long to return to service, but now we are back with a column today and another one for early next week. Earth is most fortunate to …
Direct Imaging Earth and Moon from Mars
Sometimes images arrive that make it clear that the space age is not a throw-away line, but a reality. This one was taken by a satellite orbiting Mars, and it shows the Earth and the moon. Kind of remarkable, given that the camera -- the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars …
Curiosity Has Found The Element Boron On Mars. That’s More Important Than You Might Think
For years, noted chemist and synthetic life researcher Steven Benner has talked about the necessary role of the element boron in the origin of life. Without boron, he has found, many of the building blocks needed to form the earliest self-replicating ribonucleic acid (RNA) fall apart when they come into contact with water, which is …
Curiosity Has Found The Element Boron On Mars. That's More Important Than You Might Think
For years, noted chemist and synthetic life researcher Steven Benner has talked about the necessary role of the element boron in the origin of life. Without boron, he has found, many of the building blocks needed to form the earliest self-replicating ribonucleic acid (RNA) fall apart when they come into contact with water, which is …
The Search for Organic Compounds On Mars Is Getting Results
One of the primary goals of the Curiosity mission to Mars has been to search for and hopefully identify organic compounds -- the carbon-based molecules that on Earth are the building blocks of life. No previous mission had quite the instruments and capacity needed to detect the precious organics, nor did they have the …
Continue reading "The Search for Organic Compounds On Mars Is Getting Results"
The Search for Organic Compounds On Mars Is Getting Results
One of the primary goals of the Curiosity mission to Mars has been to search for and hopefully identify organic compounds -- the carbon-based molecules that on Earth are the building blocks of life. No previous mission had quite the instruments and capacity needed to detect the precious organics, nor did they have the …
Continue reading "The Search for Organic Compounds On Mars Is Getting Results"
The Ancient Mars Water Story, Updated
Before the Curiosity rover landed on Mars, NASA's "follow the water"maxim had already delivered results that suggested a watery past and just maybe some water not far below the surface today that would periodically break through on sun-facing slopes. While tantalizing -- after all, the potential presence of liquid water on a exoplanet's surface is …
The Ancient Mars Water Story, Updated
Before the Curiosity rover landed on Mars, NASA's "follow the water"maxim had already delivered results that suggested a watery past and just maybe some water not far below the surface today that would periodically break through on sun-facing slopes. While tantalizing -- after all, the potential presence of liquid water on a exoplanet's surface is …
The Habitable Zone Gets Poked, Tweaked and Stretched to the Limits
For more than 20 years now -- even before the first detection of an extra-solar planet -- scientists have posited, defined and then debated the existence and nature of a habitable zone. It's without a doubt a central scientific concept, and the idea has caught on with the public (and the media) too. The discovery …
Continue reading "The Habitable Zone Gets Poked, Tweaked and Stretched to the Limits"
The Habitable Zone Gets Poked, Tweaked and Stretched to the Limits
For more than 20 years now -- even before the first detection of an extra-solar planet -- scientists have posited, defined and then debated the existence and nature of a habitable zone. It's without a doubt a central scientific concept, and the idea has caught on with the public (and the media) too. The discovery …
Continue reading "The Habitable Zone Gets Poked, Tweaked and Stretched to the Limits"
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