scholarly journals This Search for Alien Life Starts with Destroying Bacteria on Earth

Eos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
Author(s):  
JoAnna Wendel
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Fragments ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Icy Moons

Someday, a catalog of molecular fragments might help scientists identify extraterrestrial life on our solar system’s icy moons.

scholarly journals New Instrument May Aid Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Eos ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
JoAnna Wendel
Keyword(s):  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Icy Moons ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
New Instrument

For 2 weeks on the Greenland ice cap, scientists tested an instrument that might help us find life on icy moons with oceans beneath their crusts.

Psychology in Outerspace

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 220-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viren Swami ◽  
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic ◽  
Manal Shafi
Keyword(s):  
Individual Difference ◽  
Sensation Seeking ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Social Conformity ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Paranormal Beliefs ◽  
Future Work

Previous work has shown that is important to consider the disjunction between paranormal and nonparanormal beliefs about extraterrestrial life. The current study examined the association between both such beliefs and individual difference and demographic variables. A total of 555 British participants completed the Extraterrestrial Beliefs Scale, as well as measures of their Big Five personality scores, social conformity, sensation seeking, and demographics. Results showed no sex differences in ratings of paranormal and nonparanormal extraterrestrial beliefs, but participants rated nonparanormal beliefs more positively than paranormal beliefs. Results of structural equation modeling showed that individual difference factors (specifically, Openness, Conscientiousness, and social conformity) explained 21% of the variance in extraterrestrial beliefs, whereas demographic factors (specifically, education level, political orientation, and religiosity) explained 16% of the variance. Limitations and directions for future work are considered.

Quasi-Barrierless Submolecular Motion in Mechanically Interlocked Carbon Nanotubes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Villalva ◽  
Belén Nieto-Ortega ◽  
Manuel Melle-Franco ◽  
Emilio Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Density Functional ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Tight Binding ◽  
Energetic Cost ◽  
Molecular Fragments ◽  
Activation Barriers ◽  
Flat Surfaces ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Atomically Flat ◽  
Derivatives Of

The motion of molecular fragments in close contact with atomically flat surfaces is still not fully understood. Does a more favourable interaction imply a larger barrier towards motion even if there are no obvious minima? Here, we use mechanically interlocked rotaxane-type derivatives of SWNTs (MINTs) featuring four different types of macrocycles with significantly different affinities for the SWNT thread as models to study this problem. Using molecular dynamics, we find that there is no direct correlation between the interaction energy of the macrocycle with the SWNT and its ability to move along or around it. Density functional tight-binding calculations reveal small (<2.5 Kcal·mol-1) activation barriers, the height of which correlates with the commensurability of the aromatic moieties in the macrocycle with the SWNT. Our results show that macrocycles in MINTs rotate and translate freely around and along SWNTs at room temperature, with an energetic cost lower than the rotation around the C−C bond in ethane.<br>

Structural and chemical characteristics of model molecular fragments petroleum resins

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
S.A. Shutkova ◽  
◽  
M.Yu. Dolomatov ◽  
M.M. Dolomatova ◽  
A.M. Petrov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Characteristics ◽  
Molecular Fragments

Earth's Bacteria in the Guise of Extraterrestrial Life

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 153-153
Author(s):  
Howard Gest
Keyword(s):  
Extraterrestrial Life

One Step Short of Life

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karel Schrijver
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Water ◽  
Radio Telescopes ◽  
Speed Of Light ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
True Nature ◽  
One Step ◽  
New Strategies ◽  
Present Focus

This chapter briefly reviews some the challenges encountered in the search for extraterrestrial life. So far, no signs of extraterrestrial life have been found. The search started with radio telescopes, looking for technology-based civilizations, but new strategies have emerged that take on the primary challenges in this search: the enormous distances to exoplanets and the question of the true nature of life. The author outlines the development of new tools for the search, and why the present focus is on Earth-sized exoplanets with a potential for liquid water on their surfaces. Not having been visited by an alien civilization presents us with a paradox: if life develops as quickly elsewhere as on Earth, then why have we not been contacted? Is the speed of light too slow to cross interstellar distances, is life intrinsically rare, or should we conclude that civilizations are intrinsically short-lived?

The Cosmic Mystery Tour

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Mee
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Particle Physics ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Galactic Centre ◽  
Red Giants ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Universe

The Cosmic Mystery Tour is a brief account of modern physics and astronomy presented in a broad historical and cultural context. The book is attractively illustrated and aimed at the general reader. Part I explores the laws of physics including general relativity, the structure of matter, quantum mechanics and the Standard Model of particle physics. It discusses recent discoveries such as gravitational waves and the project to construct LISA, a space-based gravitational wave detector, as well as unresolved issues such as the nature of dark matter. Part II begins by considering cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole and how we arrived at the theory of the Big Bang and the expanding universe. It looks at the remarkable objects within the universe such as red giants, white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes, and considers the expected discoveries from new telescopes such as the Extremely Large Telescope in Chile, and the Event Horizon Telescope, currently aiming to image the supermassive black hole at the galactic centre. Part III considers the possibility of finding extraterrestrial life, from the speculations of science fiction authors to the ongoing search for alien civilizations known as SETI. Recent developments are discussed: space probes to the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn; the discovery of planets in other star systems; the citizen science project SETI@Home; Breakthrough Starshot, the project to develop technologies to send spacecraft to the stars. It also discusses the Fermi paradox which argues that we might actually be alone in the cosmos

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