inkbluesky

no one left to save us

I don’t know what beach this is from, but it must get pretty crowded in summer with so many lifeguard stations.

Researchers Study Formation Of Chemical Precursors to Life

“This is a feat unprecedented in the 35-year history of searching for complex molecules in space and suggests that a universal prebiotic chemistry is at work,” said Jan M. Hollis of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, leader of the research team.

The new discoveries are helping scientists unlock the secrets of how the molecular precursors to life can form in the giant clouds of gas and dust in which stars and planets are born.

“The first of the many chemical processes that ultimately led to life on Earth probably took place even before our planet was formed. The GBT has taken the leading role in exploring the origin of biomolecules in interstellar clouds,” said Phil Jewell of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO).

The eight new molecules discovered with the GBT bring the total to 141 different molecular species found in interstellar space. About 90 percent of those interstellar molecules contain carbon, which is required for a molecule to be classified as organic. The newly-discovered molecules all contain carbon and are composed of 6 to 11 atoms each. These results suggest, the scientists say, that chemical evolution occurs routinely in the gas and dust from which stars and planets eventually are born. The mass of an interstellar cloud is 99 percent gas and one percent dust.

So there may be some science, abet unintentional in the “dust to dust” prayer.

Environmental Defense Fund