chemistry
The Heaviest Element Ever Seen in an Exoplanet’s Atmosphere: Barium
Astronomers have spotted barium in the atmosphere of a distant exoplanet. With its 56 protons, you have to run your…
Scientists Discover a New Way Exoplanets Could Make Oxygen; Unfortunately, it Doesn’t Require Life
Finding oxygen in an exoplanet's atmosphere is a clue that life may be at work. On Earth, photosynthetic organisms absorb…
It’s Not Conclusive, But Methane is Probably the Best Sign of Life on Exoplanets
When the James Webb Space Telescope aims at exoplanet atmospheres, it'll use spectroscopy to identify chemical elements. One of the…
The Building Blocks of Earth Could Have Come From Farther out in the Solar System
Earth formed over 4.5 billion years ago via accretion. Earth's building blocks were chunks of rock of varying sizes. From…
Even More Complex Organic Molecules Have Been Found in a Protoplanetary Disc. Was Life Inevitable?
Will we ever understand life's origins? Will we ever be able to put our finger on the exact moment and…
What’s it Like Inside a Super-Earth?
We know a ton about the inside of Earth. We know it has both an inner core and an outer…
One of Life’s Building Blocks can Form in Space
Peptides are one of the smallest biomolecules and are one of life's critical building blocks. New research shows that they…
Curiosity Sees a Strong Carbon Signature in a Bed of Rocks
Carbon is critical to life, as far as we know. So anytime we detect a strong carbon signature somewhere like…
Did Cosmic Dust Deliver the Phosphorus Needed for Life?
Without phosphorus, there's no life. It's a necessary part of DNA, RNA, and other biological molecules like ATP, which helps…
How To Search the Chemical Makeup of Exoplanet Atmospheres for Hints at Their History
Author’s note – this article was written with Dr. Vincent Kofman, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), working in…