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Ecosmos: A Revolutionary Fertile, Habitable, Solar-Bioplanet, Incubator Lifescape

Bovolenta, Giulia, et al. In-Depth Exploration of Catalytic Sites on Amorphous Solid Water: The Astrosynthesis of Aminomethanol. arXiv:2407.03493. We note this entry by Universidad de Concepción, Chile, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Sapienza University of Rome and University of Stuttgart exochemists for one more notice of the pervasive occurrence of self-starter processes wherever they can, and to illume what truly seems a phenomenal life bearing, biocomplex, evolving milieu headed toward our global discovery and retrospect affirmation.

Chemical processes taking place on ice-grain mantles are a conducive nexus within interstellar environments. In this study, we analyzed of the catalytic effects of an amorphous solid water (ASW) surface on the reaction between ammonia (NH3) and formaldehyde (H2CO) to form aminomethanol (NH2CH2OH) using density functional theory. Our results indicate that the catalytic sites can be categorized into four groups by way of the interactions of the carbonyl oxygen and the amino group with the ice surface in the reactant complex. (Brief excerpt)

Tostevin, Rosalie and Imad Ahmed. Micronutrient availability in Precambrian oceans controlled by greenalite format. Nature Geoscience. 6/1188, 2024. By the mid 2020s, global scientific techniques have become so advanced that University of Cape Town and Oxford University geochemists can finely quantify the certain elements involved in the formation of necessary biomineral protein-like components. Into this extreme summer, one might wonder at what sufficient point could it dawn, might it be possible to realize, that we peoples may just now be perceiving an innately fertile, procreative, independent reality which then requires our proactive Earthuman sustainability.

Metabolisms that evolved in the Archaean era (4.0–2.5 bya) preferentially selected iron, manganese and molybdenum to form metalloproteins, whereas the majority of zinc-, copper- and vanadium-binding proteins emerged later. Recent sedimentological work has uncovered iron silicate minerals. Here we quantify the diagenesis of an Fe(II) silicate mineral, a precursor to crystalline greenalite in seawater and hot hydrothermal fluids. Our results provide a mechanistic explanation for metal availability in Archaean oceans that is consistent with temporal patterns of metal utilization predicted from protein structures and comparative genomics. (Excerpts)

Yang, Zhenghai, et al.. Low-temperature formation of pyridine and (iso)quinoline via neutral–neutral reactions.. Nature Astronomy.. May, 2024. A global team of astrochemists posted in Hawaii, Florida, Brazil, France and China appear to begin a convergent phase to fill in and unify the original endemic scenario from prebiotic precursors all the way to nucleotide replicators and evolving protocells. See also Co‐evolution of early Earth environments and microbial life by Timothy Lyons, et al in Nature Reviews Microbiology (May, 2024) for a similar paper.

Aromatic molecules represent fundamental building blocks in prebiotic chemistry and are contemplated as vital precursors to DNA and RNA nitrogen bases. However, despite finding some 300 extraterrestrial molecules, the pathways to pyridine (C5H5N), pyridinyl (C5H4N·) and (iso)quinoline (C9H7N) are elusive. Here we describe the gas-phase formation of methylene amidogen (H2CN·) and cyanomethyl (H2CCN·) radicals via molecular beam studies and electronic structure calculations. This study affords entry points to precursors of DNA and RNA nitrogen bases in hydrocarbon-rich environments which changes our understanding of the origin of prebiotic molecules in our Galaxy. (Abstract)

KAVLI-IAU SYMPOSIUM (IAUS 387): (Toward) Discovery of Life Beyond Earth and its Impact. kavli-iau-2024.durham.ac.uk/wordpress. A home page for this international conference held in Durham, UK, on April 15 – 19, 2024, A full array of Abstracts can be found such as Jacob Haqq Misra, Blue Marble Space Institute, Escaping the Great Filter: The future of civilization, Arwen Nicholson, University of Exeter, How probable is Gaia?, Giovanna Tinetti, University College London, Exoplanet atmospheres in the era of JWST and ARIEL, Stephen Webb, Science Writer, UK Reexamining the Fermi Paradox in the age of discovery and Frances Westall, CNRS, France, Life out there, expectations and reality.

Until 1995, the only known planets orbited our Sun. Now we have evidence for over 5,000 exoplanets orbiting other stars, and expect to find billions more. In the 1960s, Frank Drake began a search for radio signals. The space age brought opportunities to explore our Solar System with telescopes and probes. Planetary atmospheres can now be analyzed for the signs of life. This present decade sees a once-in-a-lifetime investment into the ‘Search for Life Beyond Earth.’ Both NASA and ESA have active and planned missions focused on exoplanets. Meanwhile, new Machine Learning (ML) algorithms will serve the search for technosignatures at scale. Beyond science, the worldwide quest raises questions of policy, law, philosophy, and theology. (Intro Excerpt)

burnRemo, et al, . A radius valley between migrated steam worlds and evaporated rocky cores. Nature Astronomy. 8/4, 2024. MPI Astronomy, University of Bern, IBM Research, and Geneva Observatory and Ludwig-Maximilians-University astrophysicists including Julia Venturini are able to detect the presence of an integral solar system topology which serves to array and constrain planetary movements. See also Peas-in-a-Pod Across the Radius Valley: Rocky Systems are Less Uniform in Mass but More Uniform in Size and Spacing by Armaan Goyal and Songhu Wang at arXiv:2405.14091 and Wide Binary Orbits are Preferentially Aligned with the Orbits of Small Planets, but Probably Not Hot Jupiters by Sam Christian, et al at 2405.10379.

The radius valley (or gap) which separates smaller super-Earths from larger sub-Neptunes, is a key feature that theoretical models must explain. Here we use an advanced coupled formation and evolution model that describes the planets’ growth and evolution starting from solid, moon-sized bodies in the protoplanetary disk to mature Gyr-old planetary systems. The model results demonstrate that the observed radius valley can be interpreted as the separation of less massive, rocky super-Earths formed in situ from more massive, ex situ, water-rich sub-Neptunes. Therefore, we provide a hybrid theoretical explanation of the radius gap and cliff caused by both planet formation (orbital migration) as well as evolution (atmospheric escape). (Excerpt)

Faridani, Thea, et al. More Likely Than You Think: Inclination-Driving Secular Resonances are Common in Known Exoplanet Systems.. arXiv:2406.09359.. We cite this work by UCLA, Georgia Tech and Yale University astroscientists as another current perception of solar systems as a whole interactive entity wherein planetary locations and transits influence each other. See also The PLATO Mission at arXiv:2406.05447 for another version.

Multi-planet systems face significant challenges to detection. One mechanism to excite mutual inclination between planets is secular resonance, where the nodal precession frequencies align such as to increase the efficiency of angular momentum transport between them. In this work, we explore known three-planet systems, determine whether they are in (or were in) secular resonance due to evolving stellar oblateness, and demonstrate the implications of resonance on their detectability and stability. We show that about 20% of three planet transiting systems seem to undergo these resonances early in their lives. (Excerpt)

Rauer, Heike, et al. The PLATO Mission. arXiv:2406.05447.. The main public posting all about the epic ESA planet hunter observance, as the quotes say. Some 200 coauthors such as Conny Aerts, Alessandro Morbidelli and Hans Deeg sight ahead into the 2030s as empowered and informed by a new phase of astronomic search and discover. Our own take would be to attribute the mega project to an Earthropo to Ecosmo sapiensphere on her/his twinity own. Another aspect is a view of candidate worlds and their host star as a whole integrated unit. Altogether the endeavor could imply an intended participatory purpose to achieve a vital description and recognition of a genesis universe.

PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) is ESA's M3 mission designed to detect and characterise extrasolar planets, along with asteroseismic monitoring select stars. With the complement of radial velocity observations from the ground, planets will be viewed for their radius, mass, and age with high accuracy. These features will introduce a comparative exoplanetology which can place our Solar System planets in a broader context. Here we review the science objectives, target samples and fields, and describe the instrument and the mission profile. PLATO is scheduled for a launch date in later 2026. (Excerpt)

PLATO is the M3 mission in the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Program of the European Space Agency. With 26 telescopes of 20 cm class, that all together collect photons like a telescope of 1 m class covering a field of view 10,000 times the area of the full Moon, it will survey the brightest stars in the sky for transiting planets. PLATO sensitivity and operation mode will allow the detection of earth analogues - for mass and orbit - orbiting solar-like stars, a task that will not be covered by any other project in this decade. (platomission.com)

Moore, Keavin, et al.. Water Evolution & Inventories of Super-Earths Orbiting Late M-Dwarfs. arXiv:2406.19923. As astronomic techniques become ever more sophisticated, Earth & Planetary Sciences, McGill University exoplanet researchers including Nicolas Cowen can come up with one more feature that will seriously affect long-term habitability. As the quote says, a finely-nuanced zone is found between all wet or bone dry conditions.

Super-Earths orbiting M-dwarf stars may be the most common habitable planets in the Universe. However, their habitability is threatened by intense irradiation from their host stars, which drives water to escape to space. We present a box model of water cycling and evaporation for terrestrial planets of mass 1--8 M⊕ orbiting in the habitable zone of a late M-dwarf. Planets with more water become flooded, while those with less have desiccated surfaces. A super-Earth at the inner edge of a habitable zone tends to end up as either a waterworld or dry desert; only a narrow range of initial water inventory yields an Earth-like land-sea-air abide. (Abstract)

Ostrander, Chadlin, et al. Onset of coupled atmosphere–ocean oxygenation 2.3 billion years ago.. Nature. June 1, 2024. Seven geophysicists at the University of Utah and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution can now achieve a more detailed quantification of this crucial passage to a stable atmosphere with a vital 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen composition. As a result, we gain more prior evidence of how chancy the occasion of Earth life’s evolutionary emergence to a worldwide intelligence has actually been. And just now a natural genesis by virtue of all this knowledge we peoples must to unite and select our own fittest success. See also Life on the Edge: The Cambrian Marine Realm and Oxygenation by Sara Pruss1, and Benjamin Gill in Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences (Vol. 52, 2024).

The initial rise of molecular oxygen after the Archaean–Proterozoic transition 2.5 bya was more complex than the single step-change once envisioned. Sulfur mass-independent fractionation records suggest that the rise of atmospheric O2 was oscillatory, with multiple returns to an anoxic state until perhaps 2.2 bya. Yet few constraints exist for contemporaneous marine dynamics, precluding a holistic understanding of planetary oxygenation. Here we report thallium (Tl) isotope ratio and redox-sensitive element data for marine shales from the Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa. Our data connect atmospheric O2 dynamics on early Earth with the marine realm, marking an important turning point in Earth’s redox history away from heterogeneous and highly localized ‘oasis’-style oxygenation. (Excerpt)

Stern, Robert and Taras Gerya. The importance of continents, oceans and plate tectonics for the evolution of complex life: implications for finding e. Nature Scientific Reports. 14/8552, 2024. A UT Dallas Earth system scientist and an ETU Zurich geochemist make a latest strong case that our past billion years of drifting surface forms with a general land/sea ratio of 30/70 ratio is especially conducive for a life’s developmental emergence and also seems to be a rarest habitable planet occasion.

Within astronomical and biological parameters, the Drake Equation predicts that there should be many exoplanets in our galaxy with active communicative civilizations (ACCs). This optimism, however, is not supported by evidence, often referred to as the Fermi Paradox. Here, we elaborate on the importance of planetary tectonics for biological evolution by adding two additional terms to the Drake Equation: foc (the fraction of habitable exoplanets with continents and oceans) and fpt (the fraction of habitable exoplanets with continents and oceans that have had plate tectonics operating for at least 0.5 Ga). We propose that an absence of ACCs reflects the scarcity of continents and oceans on exoplanets with primitive life. (Excerpt)

Ecosmomics: Independent, UniVersal, Complex Network Systems and a Genetic Code-Script Source

Ball, Philip. The New Math of How Large-Scale Order Emerges. Quanta. June 10, 2024. The polymath British science writer provides an update survey as complexity theorists get closer to explaining how many local interactive entities (neurons, birds, people) can give rise to predictable global formations. The current work of Jim Critchfield, Fernando Rosas, Anil Seth (search each) and others is profiled with an especial notice of Software in the natural world by F. Rosas, et al (arXiv:2402.09090). See also Dynamical independence: Discovering emergent macroscopic processes in complex dynamical systems by L Barnett and A. Seth in Phys. Rev. E (108/014304, 2023) and Evolving reservoir computers reveals bidirectional coupling between predictive power and emergent dynamics by Hanna Tolle, et al at arXiv:2406.19201.

Rosas’ framework could help complex systems researchers see when they can and can’t hope to develop predictive coarse-grained models. When a system meets the key requirement of being computationally closed, “you don’t lose any faithfulness by simulating the upper levels and neglecting the lower levels,” he said. But ultimately Rosas hopes an approach like his might answer some deep questions about the structure of the universe — why, for example, life seems to exist only at scales intermediate between the atomic and the galactic. (PB)

Tadic, Bosiljka and Roderick Melnik. Fundamental interactions in self-organized critical dynamics on higher-order networks. arXiv:2404.06175.. Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia and Wilfrid Laurier University; Waterloo, Canada (search each) contribute further theoretic findings of how pervasive nature’s propensity to reside at this synchronous optimum title state seems to be. In this case they discern its self-similar presence in multiplex connectivities such as cerebral phenomena. See also Self-organized dynamics beyond scaling of avalanches by Bosiljka Tadic, et al at arXiv:2403.15859.

In complex systems, higher-order connectivity is often revealed in the geometry of networked units. Such systems show signatures of self-organized criticality, a non-equilibrium collective behaviour associated with long-range correlations and scale invariance. Here, we intertwine features of higher-order geometry and self-organized critical dynamics as responsible for the emergence of new properties on a larger scale as occurs in brains. We provide an overview of collective dynamics phenomena, such as the synchronization of phase oscillators. (Excerpt)

zhang, Lu, et al.. A mathematical framework for understanding the spontaneous emergence of complexity applicable to growing multicellular systems.. PLoS Computational Biology. June, 2024. June is in bloom with papers like this by Peking University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, University of Hong Kong, and Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology researchers who conclude that their sophisticate findings can imply the deep presence of intrinsic topological forces guided by genetic information. If of a mind, a set course can be seen to unfold as it forms embryonic cells as if one situational cue. Altogether a novel sense of an independent, preordained, life-bearing process is achieved.

In embryonic development and organogenesis, cells sharing identical genetic codes acquire diverse gene expression states in a reproducible spatial distribution for multi-cellular formation. To understand the spontaneous growth of complexity, we constructed a division-decision model, simulating the growth of cells with similar genetic networks from a single cell. Our findings highlight role of cell division in providing positional cues, escorting the system toward states rich in information. This study is a forward step in comprehending developmental intricacies, paving the way for quantitative formulations to construct synthetic multicellular patterns. (Excerpt)

Embryonic development shapes our bodies from a single cell, determining the placement of the head and tail. But how do cells, all sharing the same genetic code, precisely know what to become? Our mathematical model allows us to envision your information asbeing provided by your neighbors and your mom.. Then, appropriate regulatory networks such as lateral inhibition can transform this input into diverse yet robust gene expressions. This novel procedure helps us see the rules behind spontaneously growing complexity, guiding us to create new patterns of cells. (Author)

gallo, Luca, et al. Gallo, Luca, et al. Higher-order correlations reveal complex memory in temporal hypergraphs. Nature Communications. 15/4754, 2024. Central European University, Vienna and Queen Mary University, London theorists including Vito Latora and Federico Battiston continue to explicate the many structural, informative, knowledgeable qualities of nature’s brain-like anatomy and physiology.

Many real-world complex systems are characterized by interactions in groups that change in time. Current temporal network approaches, however, are unable to describe group dynamics based on pairwise interactions only. Here, we introduce a framework for higher-order correlations to characterize their temporal organization. We use a model of temporal hypergraphs with non-Markovian group interactions, which reveals complex memory as a fundamental mechanism underlying the emerging pattern in the data. (Excerpt)
In conclusion, our work sheds light on the multifaceted nature of memory that emerges at different scales in real-world interacting systems. Beyond the scope of network science, we hope that our framework can open new avenues to reveal the higher-order dynamics of coherent structures in a variety of physical systems, from multi-fragmentation in nuclear physics to vortex-vortex interaction in the atmosphere or other fluid dynamical systems. (4)

Pal, Kumar Palash, et al. Pal, Kumar Palash, et al. Global synchronizatin in generalized multilayer higher-order networks. arXiv:2406.03771. Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata and University of Maribor, Slovenia system physicists including Matjaz Perc and Dibakar Ghosh continue to trace multiplex features and benefits of nature’s essential organismic anatomy and physiology as it becomes evident and suffuses from physical to societal interactive vitalities.

Networks incorporating higher-order interactions introduce novel dynamics into various processes such as synchronization. Here, we investigate these coordinations in multilayer networks beyond pairwise connections, both within and across layers. We demonstrate the existence of a stable global synchronous state resembling a master stability function. Our findings are supported by simulations using Hindmarsh-Rose neuronal and Rössler oscillators which illustrate how synchronization is facilitated by multiplex forms, over scenarios involving interactions within single layers. (Excerpt)

The study of complex networks has emerged as a prominent area of research. This interest growing arises from their capacity to model interconnected dynamical systems across many fields, such as physics, biology, ecology, social sciences, and engineering [1–3]. These networks are comprised of nodes, representing entities or elements, and links, representing connections or pairwise interactions between them. Many real-world systems can be conceptualized as multilayer networks include transportation networks [6], neuronal networks in the brain [7, 8], and various types of social networks [9]. A multilayer network consists of individual networks, each with its set of nodes and links (referred to as intralayer links), interconnected through interlayer links. The representation of multilayer networks hinges on a fundamental assumption: the complex connections among individuals within and across layers are comprehensively elucidated through pairwise links.

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