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

korsaga, Marie, et al. Disk galaxies are self-similar: the universality of the HtheI-to-Halo mass ratio for isolated disks7. arXiv:2307.01035. A worldwide group at University of Strasbourg, CNRS, Universite Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Burkina Faso, Instituto de Astrofısica de Canarias and Universidad de La Laguna, Spain post a further quantified finesse of these celestial topologies repeat in kind at every state and scale.

Observed scaling relations in galaxies between baryons and dark matter provide insights on the process of galaxy formation. Here, we study the scaling relation between the neutral hydrogen (HI) and dark matter mass in rotating disk galaxies. Wet show that prior formation models predict the HI-to-dark halo mass ratio to decrease with stellar mass We then infer dark matter halo masses from rotation curve data for disk galaxies in the local Universe, and report the universality of the HI-to-dark halo mass ratio. Our result reveals that isolated galaxies with regularly rotating extended HI disks are surprisingly self-similar up to high masses, which hints at mass-independent self-regulation mechanisms that have yet to be fully understood. (Excerpt)

Baum, David, et al. The ecology–evolution continuum and the origin of life.. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. November, 2023. A veteran team of DB, Zhen Peng, and Praful Gagrani, University of Wisconsin, Emily Dodson, Michigan State University, Eric Smith, Georgia Tech and Alex Plum, UC San Diego system theorists (search names) continue on this year to an insightful synthesis which is able to explain and establish nature’s essential spontaneity fertile by identifying the primary presence of many dynamic, autocatalytic, self-making processes. As this section reports, since the 1970’s there have been growing perceptions of this finding, which is now, at last, well verified. See also Polyhedral geometry and combinatorics of an autocatalytic ecology in chemical and cluster chemical reaction networks by this group at arXiv:2303.14238. Here is still more vital evidence, so it seems, of an historic, integral PediaVerse discovery event.

Prior research on evolutionary mechanisms during the origin of life has mainly assumed populations of discrete entities with information encoded in genetic polymers. However recent advances in autocatalytic chemical ecology (ACEs) imply a broader basis that allows for adaptive complexification prior to genetic encoding or individual entities. When ACEs are organized in meta-ecosystems, whether they be cells or environmental patches, evolution, defined as changes in AC frequency over time, can occur. Such an adaptive evolution can then explain the emergence of self-bounded units (e.g. protocells) and genetic inheritance.. Recognizing the continuity between evolution and ecology by way of autocatalytic chemical processes suggests that life’s origin is a general and predictable outcome of driven chemical ecosystems rather than due to specific, rare conditions.

This new framework, chemical ecosystem ecology, suggests that the origin of life is best understood as a process whereby ACMEs change adaptively prior to the onset of Darwinian evolution, resulting in the acquisition of autopoiesis and genetic encoding. Such an insight may allow for the development of new formal theories of abiogenesis that avoid invoking the spontaneous emergence of complex genetic systems. Thus, by bringing together expertise in ecology, evolution and autocatalytic chemistry, it may become possible to quantify the de novo appearance of adaptively evolving chemical systems that begin to remove the boundary between life and non-life. (8)

Datta, Chandan, et al.. Catalysis of entanglement and other quantum resources. Reports on Progress in Physics. 86/11, 2023. Quantum Optical Technologies, University of Warsaw physicists CD, Tulja Varun Kondra1, Marek Miller1 and Alexander Streltsov review past notices of this deeply evident propensity and then describe its latest theoretical basis along with thermodynamic aspects and applications. This observation is significant because it fills in a constant presence of such self-activating properties across every phenomenal domain. And as other diverse papers are now moved to state, a true natural universality is truly being discovered.

In chemistry, a catalyst is a substance which enables a chemical reaction or increases its rate, while remaining unchanged in the process. Instead of chemical reactions, quantum catalysis can enhance our ability to convert quantum states into each other under physical constraints. This article reviews new developments in quantum catalysis along with a historical overview of this research direction. We focus on catalytic entanglement and coherence, quantum thermodynamics and resource theories. We then review applications and recent efforts on a universal catalysis which does not depend on the states to be transformed. (Abstract)

Today, chemical catalysis is broadly used in the chemical industry and is essential for many industrial processes. In addition, the importance of catalytic reactions in biochemistry cannot be overstated: to the point that the ability of living organisms to “catalyse chemical reactions efficiently and selectively” via metabolic pathways could be called one of the “fundamental conditions for life. Quantum catalysis is conceptually similar to chemical catalysis but differs from it in several important details. A simple analogy between quantum and chemical catalysis can be established by replacing “chemical reaction” with “quantum state transition”. With this, a quantum catalyst is a quantum system which enables otherwise impossible transitions between quantum states. (1)

Dauphas, Nicolas, et al. Bayesian Inference on the Isotopic Building Blocks of Mars and Earth. arXiv:2309.15290. Origins Lab University of Chicago and Southwest Research Institute researchers describe an extensive study of elements and combinations that seemed to have an early role for these neighbor worlds. Some billions of years later, one habitable occasion just now reaches a collective cognizance which can undertake such studies. In regard, a main theme is an avail of these iterative methods as a way to hone in better results (see below).

Isotopic anomalies provide a means of probing the materials responsible for terrestrial planets. By way of new iron data from Martian meteorites and insights from published data for O, Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe, Ni, Sr, Zr, Mo, Ru, and Si, we analyze potential changes in compositions accreted by Mars and Earth during their formation. A Principal Component Analysis of meteorites identifies three main clusters: CI, CC=CM+CO+CV+CR, and NC=EH+EL+H+L+LL. (Excerpt)

Bayesian inference and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach: In the context of a probabilistic model and prior distributions including both parameters of interest (𝐹) and nuisance (𝐼), MCMC strives to generate samples from the posterior distributions of given observed data (𝑇Y). Starting at a set of parameters, the algorithm iteratively proposes new parameters and decides on whether to accept or reject this present state based on a set of rules.(8, for example)

Paschek, Klaus, et al. Prebiotic Vitamin B3 Synthesis in Carbonaceous Planetesimals.. arXiv:2310.11433. MPI Astronomy and Ludwig Maximilian University biochemists propose a novel pathway by which the original vivifying milieu could give occasion to even this vital physiological biomolecule.

Aqueous chemistry within carbonaceous planetesimals is a fertile mode for synthesizing prebiotic organic matter. Here, we studied the formation of vitamin B3 as an important precursor of the coenzyme NAD(P)(H), which is essential for the metabolism of all life. We propose an empirical reaction mechanism that explains the synthesis of vitamin B3. It combines sugar precursors glyceraldehyde or dihydroxyacetone with the amino acids aspartic acid or asparagine in aqueous solution. The predicted vitamin B3 abundances resulting from this new pathway were compared with measured values in asteroids and meteorites. In sum, our model fits well into the complex network of chemical pathways active in this environment. (excerpt)

Emsenhuber, Alexandr, Alexandre, et al. Planetary Population Synthesis and the Emergence of Four Classes of Planetary System Architectures. arXiv:2303.00012. We note this work by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit, University of Bern, and MPI Astronomie exo-researchers as another example of new perceptions of how solar systems seem to have an array of overall properties.

Here, we review the population synthesis method to explore which conditions lead to different planetary system architectures. As a result, we identify four main groups: a near-in situ compositionally ordered terrestrial and ice planets, migrated sub-Neptunes, mixed low-mass and dynamically active giants without inner low-mass planets. These four classes exhibit typical formation pathways and are certain mass scales. The breakdown into classes allows to better understand which physical processes are dominant. Comparison with observations reveals certain differences to the actual population, pointing at limitation of theoretical understanding. (Excerpt)

Fisher, Theresa, et al.. A Complex Systems Approach to Exoplanet Atmospheric Chemistry: New Prospects for Ruling Out the Possibility of Alien Life-As-We-Know-It. arXiv:2310.05359. Arizona State University astrobiologists TF, Estelle Janin and Sara Walker post a latest comprehensive review as Earthumanity prepares to seek and rightly identify near and further occasions of inhabited exoworlds. A segment wonders over how to evaluate what evolutionary stage they may have reached, with attention to global civilizations. The especial contribution herein is a novel notice of life’s multiplex anatomy and physiology as vital indicators. See also PyATMOS: A Scalable Grid of Hypothetical Planetary Atmospheres by Aditya Chopra, et al at 2308.10624; and Fully fluorinated non-carbon compounds NF3 and SF6 as technosignature gases by Sara Seager, et al at 2308.13667 for other studies.

The near-term capability to characterize terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres may bring us closer to discovering alien life. However, detectable candidate biosignature gases are subject to false positives that can be produced abiotically. To distinguish, we take a complex systems approach using a chemical reaction network analysis of planetary atmospheres. Network properties like mean degree and shortest path length can effectively display when CH4 is produced from methanogenesis and serpentinization. Our results confirm how a network theoretic approach can clearly specify biological, abiotic and anomalous atmospheres. (Excerpt)

Beyond the implications for biosignature detection, the influence of biology on atmospheric reaction networks may provide a window into the physics of life itself. If there is a ‘universal biology’ dictated by the physical constraints of the universe, one manifestation may be in its network topology. For instance, one might model planetary evolution as a multilayer network, where each layer represents the chemistry in the geosphere, biosphere, or atmosphere and technosphere. In any case, further investigation into atmospheric reaction networks is warranted in a variety of fields of exoplanet science and astrobiology. (16)

Mettler, Jean-Noel, et al.. Earth as an Exoplanet. III. Using Empirical Thermal Emission Spectra as Input for Atmospheric Retrieval of an Earth-Twin Exoplanet. arXiv:2310.02634. In three entries since October 2000, ETH Zurich astrophysicists propose an approach to quantify and evaluate our own candidate habitable bioworld as some manner of baseline guide. Prior versions are Earth as an Exoplanet. II. Earth's Time-variable Thermal Emission and Its Atmospheric Seasonality of Bioindicators (2210.05414) and Earth as an Exoplanet: I. Time variable thermal emission using spatially resolved MODIS data. (2010.02589).

In these studies, we treat Earth as an exoplanet and investigate our home planet by means of a potential future mid-infrared (MIR) space mission called the Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE). Key findings include: Our world is a temperate habitable planet with abundant CO2, H2O, O3, and CH4; seasonal variations in temperature, and albedo are detectable; and Earth's variable H2O profile and patchy clouds lead to biased results for atmospheric make up. Our results suggest that LIFE could correctly identify Earth as a planet where life could thrive, with detectable levels of bioindicators, a temperate climate, and surface conditions allowing liquid surface water. (Abstract)

Vannah, Sara, et al.. An Information Theory Approach to Identifying Signs of Life on Transiting Planets.. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. October, 2023. SV and Marcelo Gleiser, Dartmouth College and Lisa Kaltenegger, Cornell University astrobiologists propose a novel way to detect advanced bioworld habitation by an evidential notice of a semblance of various communicative content.

Here we apply information theory to a range of simulated exoplanet transmission spectra as a diagnostic tool to search for potential signatures of life on Earth-analog planets. We test the algorithms on three epochs of evolution for Earth-like planets orbiting a range of host stars. The James Webb Space Telescope and upcoming ground- and space-based mironinssions promise to achieve sufficient high-resolution data that information theory can be applied to assess habitability. (Abstract)

This approach provides a framework and a tool for observers to assess exoplanet spectra. Just as we analysed simulated transmission spectra of Earth-like planets at different ages and around host stars in this paper, observed exoplanet spectra could be compared to modern Earth. Additionally, this approach is not limited to Earth-like planets or to identifying signs of life. This framework can similarly be used to compare an exoplanet spectrum to any Solar System object, or any specifically selected exoplanet to look for similarities.(6)

Ancient Earth. pbs.org/wgbh/nova/series/ancient-earth/. As an October 2023 presentation, this five part Nova program draws on the latest scientific findings to vividly illustrate the long past eons from fiery origins all the precarious way to such a worldwide reconstruction. As the episodes proceed, a series of volcanic, gaseous, thermal conditions and awesome cataclysms are shown, any of which could have ended it all. Yet as if from an essential, innate fertility, living flora and fauna rise Pheonix-like again each time.

As a further observation, while a standard view is that since myriad galaxies and planets are now known to exist, there must be many other Earth-like habitable worlds. But as these graphic displays evince, as the closing words aver (Humans), and this section documents, life’s evolutionary development is constantly fraught with serial capricious perils. Our own Earthhuman persona, 4.5 billion years on, had to pass through many narrow check points. Please see the new 2024 edition for much more on these issues.

Witness the dramatic history of Earth from its birth to the emergence of humanity. How did a hellscape of molten lava transform into a lush, green, watery planet filled with life? With realistic animation based onthe latest research, each of five episodes reveal long-lost, imperiled eras that ultimately led to the present biosphere. (Introduction)

Birth of the Sky: 4.5 billion years ago, Earth was a very different place: a hellscape of molten lava and barren rock under bombardment from meteors, and with no atmosphere. How did our familiar blue sky come to be? A chorus of science experts reveal how the primordial inferno gave rise to a cauldron of toxic gasses that would be deadly to us today.

Frozen: 700 million years ago, Earth was a giant snowball cloaked in ice from pole to pole. How did life manage to hold on in this forbidding world? Leading scientists investigate how this catastrophe may have become a catalyst for life to evolve in creative new ways as it bounced back from the brink.

Life Rising: For billions of years, life teemed in the oceans of planet Earth while the land was desolate and inhospitable. Here we explore how the earliest life emerged and invaded a barren, rocky landscape, eventually transforming it into a verdant, green world. See how the first plants made landfall and partnered with fungi to create soil that would sustain them.

Inferno: 252 million years ago, the most devastating mass extinction abruptly wiped out around 90% of all species on Earth. The culprits were the biggest volcanic eruptions the world has ever seen, emitting some 700 thousand cubic miles of magma and rock. The event – now called “The Great Dying” – came close to wiping out life on the planet. Follow scientists as they gather geologic evidence from the deep past to discover how life made it through.

Humans: The story of Earth can only be told because a technological and self-aware animal species now roams its surface and studies the planet that gave rise to it. This segment shows the cataclysmic asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs, changing climates that allowed primates to appear and led to the evolution of a bipedal being. It closes with the power and paradox of humanity’s profound impact on our planet, and ponder how peoples may shape its future.

Humans Narrative Opening: From a fiery hellscape to a thriving oasis. What an extraordinary series of events gave rises to us. Closing; The planet we have transformed now supports eight billion people. A remarkable milestone for a species that was unlikely to have evolved at all. The chances that any and all of us existing are so small, it must make us realize how lucky we are.

Romanovskaya, Irina. Planetary Biotechnospheres, Biotechnosignatures and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. International Journal of Astrobiology.. September, 2023. International Journal of Astrobiology. September 2023. We commend this unique 30 page essay across present and future celestial reaches by a Russian-American natural sciences teacher in Houston Community Colleges (irina Mullins) for its perception of worldwide civilizations as distinguished by an global sentience, a whole sapiensphere . Within a galactic vista it becomes quite evident that habitable bioplanets need evolve and transition to such an individual “Earthropocene” persona.

The concept of planetary intelligence as collective intelligence is used to consider evolutionary paths of biotechnospheres. Space exploration can expand their influence beyond planets and create cosmic ecosystems of interplanetary or interstellar phases. Here I propose ten biotechnosignature strategies to search for theme in situ, near and afar, such the Cosmic Descendants hypothesis. (short excerpt)

In mature planetary biotechnospheres, collective intelligence could comprise the intelligence of technologies along with life forms and synthetic intelligence acting in concert to monitor and preserve planetary biospheres; to support space missions and terraformation of cosmic objects; to assist with medical processes, industry, mining, agricultural and food production processes. Biotechnospheres used in space exploration and colonization would become part of larger interactive cosmic ecosystems. (27)

Ward, Peter and Joe Kirschvink.. A New History of Life: The Radical New Discoveries about the Origins and Evolution of Life on Earth. New York: Bloomsbury, 2016. As a sequel to Ward and Brownlee’s 2003 Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe, the University of Washington Earth systems scientist is joined by a CalTech geobiologist to much expand this perception over 20 chapters such as Origins to Oxygenation, The Triassic Explosion and Greenhouse Oceans. The book is highlighted by Marcelo Gleiser in his 2023 Dawn of a Mindful Universe version since the evidence bodes for a revolutionary appreciation.

Peter Ward and Joe Kirschvink show that many of our long-held beliefs about the history of life need to be revised. They first argue that catastrophe shaped life's history the from events like the sudden extinction of dinosaurs to a "Snowball Earth" and "Great Oxygenation Event." Second, life consists of carbon, but oxygen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide determined how it evolved. Third, ever since Darwin, evolution is seen in terms of species. Yet it is ecosystems - from deep-ocean vents to rainforests - that formed the living world as we know it.

Ecosmomics: An Independent, UniVersal, Source Code-Script of Generative Complex Network Systems

PLoS Complex Systems.. plos.org/complex-systems-research-journal. We note this new publication website as a way to record its occasion, along with two other complexity science, broadly conceived, online appearances. PRX Life newly joins the Physical Review series of the American Physical Society, and npj Complexity as a 2024 Nature Partner Journal issue. Into the 21st century every natural and societal phase has totally reconceived itself by way this theoretic and exemplary actuality, so it is appropriate that mainline venues provide dedicated sources. As a starter we enter a brief intro from their sites.

PLOS Complex Systems will bring together researchers working to understand complex systems. We will partner with the community to drive Open Science practices to enable rapid dissemination of results, cross-fertilization of knowledge, and collaboration to address the fundamental issues that affect individuals and societies. Research content will cover subjects such as network theory, nonlinear relationships, and the use of data, and computational analysis to model and understand natural and chaotic systems.

PRX Life: Where Physics and Life Sciences Converge. With Serena Bradde and Margaret Gardel as editors, it will give this vibrant frontier a voice, enhance the report of salient results across many topical features, promote the exchange of ideas with a personalized review process, and inspire new generations of with Perspectives and Reviews. By publishing with PRX Life, you can help us foster a more inclusive research landscape in the physics of living systems and push the boundaries of knowledge in this exciting interdisciplinary field.

Complexity science studies how large numbers of components can combine to produce rich emergent behaviours at multiple scales. Complex systems require a collective approach across scales and disciplinary domains. The mission of npj Complexity is to be a home for a publication interface of multiple fields. It is an online open-access venue dedicated to high quality peer-reviewed research in all subject aspects across domains and expertises across the globe.

Rozum, Jordan, et al.. Boolean Networks as Predictive Models of Emergent Biological Behaviors. arXiv:2319.12901. We cite this entry by SUNY Binghamton, University of Mount Union, Ohio, Penn State University and Indiana University researchers to convey how these deep mathematical lineaments are now serving many phases of biological and medical stu. The team is indeed led Reka Albert, an original cofounder with Albert Barabasi of network science. Google terms for a description and applications, often posted in the the Computational and Structural Biotechnology journal.

Interacting biological systems at all organizational levels display emergent behavior. Modeling these systems is challenging by the number and variety of components and interactions such as molecules in gene regulatory networks to species in ecological networks. Boolean networks have emerged as a powerful tool in this regard. After an introduction, we describe the process of building, analyzing, and validating a Boolean model. We then make predictions about the system's response to perturbations and about how to influence its behavior. We emphasize the interplay between structural and dynamical properties of Boolean networks and illustrate them in three case studies from disparate levels of biological organization. (excerpt)

Tanner, Jacob, et al. Functional connectivity modules in recurrent neural networks: function, origin and dynamics. arXiv:2310.20601. Indiana University, National University of Singapore and Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems, Rovereto, Italy including Richard Betzel make a further case for the functional necessity and contributions of a multiplex modularity (as also everywhere else in an ecosmic genesis.)

Understanding the ubiquitous phenomenon of neural synchronization across species and organizational levels is crucial for decoding brain function. Despite its prevalence, the functional role, origin, and dynamical implication of modular structures in correlation-based networks remains ambiguous. Using recurrent neural networks trained on systems neuroscience tasks, this study investigates these vital features of modularity in correlation networks. We show that modules are coherent units that contribute to specialized information processing. (Excerpt)

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