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A Sourcebook for the Worldwide Discovery of a Creative Organic Universe
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III. Ecosmos: A Revolutionary Fertile, Habitable, Solar-Bioplanet, Incubator Lifescape

G. An Astrochemistry to Astrobiological Spontaneity

Blandford, Roger, Chairperson. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2010. A report of the Committee for a Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the National Research Council, available in full text and color online at the NAP site, Google title keywords. We quote one sample of its multi-media scope and forward-looking optimism. A grand collaborative mission statement indeed, albeit national, but quite at odds and in contrast with the despair of physical cosmologists convinced to their satisfaction of a hostile, moribund multiverse. Surely this dichotomy needs to be faced and resolved.

Giving Meaning to the Data: Cyber-Discovery The powerful (satellite) surveys described above will produce about a petabyte (1 million gigabytes) of data—roughly as much data as the total that astronomers have ever handled—every week. The data must be quickly sifted so that interesting phenomena can be identified rapidly for further study at other wavelengths. Interesting phenomena could also be discovered by cross-correlating surveys at different wavelengths. Vast numbers of images must be accurately calibrated and stored so that they can be easily accessed to look for motion or unusual behavior on all timescales. As daunting as it sounds, the technology and software that enable the accessing and searching of these enormous databases are improving all the time and will enable astronomers to search the sky systematically for rare and unexpected phenomena. This is a new window on the universe that is opening thanks to the computer revolution. (45)

Boss, Alan, et al. Bioastronomy 2004 Abstracts. Astrobiology. 4/2, 2004. The issue contains over 200 abstracts from this meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland in July. Held every three years under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union, the papers range widely from definitions and origins of life, how stars and planets form, satellite explorations, to the evolution and role of intelligence and technology.

Cabrol, Nathalie. Alien Mindscapes: A Perspective on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Astrobiology. Online July, 2016. The author is director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute. She has a Sorbonne doctorate in Planetary Geology and is a leading authority on exoplanet water resources. The article is a comprehensive overview of this cosmic vista just opening for our special planet to survey, quantify, and wonder if any neighbors exist out there for us to meet.

Advances in planetary and space sciences, astrobiology, and life and cognitive sciences, combined with developments in communication theory, bioneural computing, machine learning, and big data analysis, create new opportunities to explore the probabilistic nature of alien life. Brought together in a multidisciplinary approach, they have the potential to support an integrated and expanded Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI1), a search that includes looking for life as we do not know it. This approach will augment the odds of detecting a signal by broadening our understanding of the evolutionary and systemic components in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI), provide more targets for radio and optical SETI, and identify new ways of decoding and coding messages using universal markers. (Abstract)

Candian, Alessandra, et al. The Aromatic Universe. Physics Today. November, 2018. Dutch and Chinese scientists extol the innately essential presence of rich molecular structures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as planar flakes of fused benzene rings, along with their fullerene cousins, as revealed by their vibrational and electronic spectra.

Caselli, Paola and Cecilia Ceccarelli. Our Astrochemical Heritage. Astronomy and Astrophysics Review. 20/1, 2012. As now possible in the second decade of the 21st century, as if speaking for Earthkind, University of Leeds and University of Grenoble astrophysicists advise of inherent material pathways that eventually led to our evolutionary acuity. Five worldly phases are noted – Pre-stellar, Protostellar, Protoplanetary Disk, Planetesimal formation, and Planet formation via the ‘comet/asteroid rain.’ Indeed further progress is seen by joint efforts of the “star-formation and solar system research communities.”

Our Sun and planetary system were born about 4.5 billion years ago. How did this happen, and what is the nature of our heritage from these early times? This review tries to address these questions from an astrochemical point of view. On the one hand, we have some crucial information from meteorites, comets and other small bodies of the Solar System. On the other hand, we have the results of studies on the formation process of Sun-like stars in our Galaxy. These results tell us that Sun-like stars form in dense regions of molecular clouds and that three major steps are involved before the planet-formation period. They are represented by the prestellar core, protostellar envelope and protoplanetary disk phases. Simultaneously with the evolution from one phase to the other, the chemical composition gains increasing complexity.

In this review, we first present the information on the chemical composition of meteorites, comets and other small bodies of the Solar System, which is potentially linked to the first phases of the Solar System’s formation. Then we describe the observed chemical composition in the prestellar core, protostellar envelope and protoplanetary-disk phases, including the processes that lead to them. Finally, we draw together pieces from the different objects and phases to understand whether and how much we inherited chemically from the time of the Sun’s birth. (Abstract)

Cataldo, Franco, et al. Petroleum, Coal and Other Organics in Space. arXiv:2005.01162. In a paper to appear in a special issue of Astrophysics and Space Science, Italian and French astrochemists discern and extend the pervasive presence of such organic, precursor biochemicals across a conducive spacescape. And we add such spontaneous formations of quite organic, fuel-like components well implies an innate, evolutionary fertility.

The petroleum and coal models of the unidentified infrared emissions (UIE), sometimes referred also as unidentified infrared bands (UIBs) has been reviewed mainly based on the work of the authors with the inclusion of unpublished results. It is shown that the petroleum and coal model of the UIE converges and merges quite well with the MAON (Mixed Aromatic Aliphatic Organic Nanoparticles) model of the UIE. It is shown that the thermal treatment of various substrates like PAHs, alkylated PAHs but also mixed aliphatic/olefinic substrates leads invariable to carbonaceous materials matching the infrared spectrum of anthracite coal or certain petroleum fractions. (Abstract excerpt)

Catling, David, et al. Why O2 is Required by Complex Life on Habitable Planets and the Concept of Planetary “Oxygenation Time.”. Astrobiology. 5/3, 2005. An atmosphere with sufficient free oxygen is imperative for life to evolve. A candidate planet will then need a stable solar system to provide enough years for this to occur. The authors note that the Periodic Table and the element Oxygen is especially suited for the rise of intricate, cognitive entities. Upon reflection, these properties could imply an innately biological universe made for this purpose.

Ceccarelli, Cecilia, et al. Seeds of Life in Space (SOLIS). arXiv:1710.10437. A 46 member team from European astronomical institutes present initial findings from IRAM-NOEMA satellite instrumentations as they detect an “organic composition diversity at 300-1000 AU scale in solar-type star forming regions.” As a result, a lively milieu of precursor biochemicals is being discovered, here dubbed “interstellar Complex Organic Molecules.”

Chaisson, Eric. A Unifying Concept for Astrobiology. International Journal of Astrobiology. 2/2, 2003. The expansion of the universe provides an energy driver for the evolution of complexity and life. This journal issue contains a number of articles on philosophical aspects of the subject, abstracts are available online.

Charnley, Steven, et al. Molecules in Space. Physics World. October, 2003. At latest count, over 130 compounds have been detected including biomolecules such as amino acid glycine needed for life.

Chela-Flores, Julian. A Second Genesis: Stepping-stones Towards the Intelligibility of Nature. Singapore: World Scientific, 2009. Rather than attempt theoretical explanations for other life in the cosmos, the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics astrobiologist lays out a detailed research program going forward to seek and encounter another instance beyond this ‘first genesis’ on earth. In so doing, an imperative basis is the persistent convergence of a directed evolutionary process on the same path toward embodied sentience. An extensive Glossary and Annotated Bibliography help serve this purpose.

We live in a golden age of the space, life and earth sciences. Never before did we have such detailed view of our cosmos, or understood in general terms its evolution, as well as the formation of our own planet. (vii) Yet, at the same time never before have we had such misrepresentation of the real frontiers of science. (vii)

Chela-Flores, Julian. Astrobiology’s Last Frontiers. Seckbach, Joseph, ed. Origins: Genesis, Evolution and Diversity of Life. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 2004. In this collection about the distribution and density of life in the universe, a concluding philosophical take on what kind of universe is implied – does contingency rule or does a constant convergence across cosmic, planetary, molecular, biochemical, and biological realms exist?

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