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

G. An Astrochemistry to Astrobiological Spontaneity

Kobayashi, Chiaki, et al. The Origin of Elements from Carbon to Uranium. arXiv:2008.04660. Three woman astrophysicists, CK, University of Hertfordshire, UK, Amanda Karakas, Monash University, Australia and Maria Lugaro, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, intricately quantify over 40 pages a unique atomic and galactic scenario of how nature’s elemental materiality came to form, arrange and complexify. In closing they acknowledge the eminent astronomer Margaret Burbidge (1919-2020) for encouraging women to enter and proceed in this field of nuclear and astrological science. The second quote, which could well describe a woman’s ecosmos, is from Chiaki’s website, see also home sites for Amanda and Maria about their international careers.

To reach a deeper understanding of the origin of elements in the periodic table, we construct Galactic chemical evolution (GCE) models for all stable elements from C (A=12) to U (A=238) from theoretical nucleosynthesis yields and event rates of all chemical enrichment sources. Neutron star mergers can produce rapid neutron-capture process elements up to Th and U, but the timescales are too long to explain observations at low metallicities. The observed evolutionary trends, such as for Eu, can well be explained if ~3% of 25-50 M hypernovae are magneto-rotational supernovae. Along with the solar neighborhood, we also predict the evolutionary trends in the halo, bulge, and thick disk for future comparison with galactic archaeology surveys. (Abstract excerpt)

I am an astronomer, because I love stars, galaxies, and the Universe. I might be rather a theorist, I am making my own galaxies in my computer based on physics and compareing with the observed galaxies in the real Universe, in order to investigate how galaxies form and evolve. My favorites are aurora, seas, drama plays, and rock music. In summer, I enjoy looking at the sea, swimming, and scuba diving. I'm looking for something special, something beautiful, tender, absolute, and eternal. (Chiaki Kobayashi)

Kolb, Vera, ed. Handbook of Astrobiology. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2019. The editor is a University of Wisconsin astrochemist and author for these fertile fields. This volume is an 850 page survey to date all about Earth and cosmic life definitions, multifaceted origins, early evolutions, biochemicals and microbes in space, planetary habitability, whence intelligence, exoEarth searches, ethical issues and educative methods. For example Mind in the Universe by David Duner, Where Are They by Nikos Prantzos, The Evolution of Habitability by Charles Lineweaver, et al, The Origin of Life by Iris Fry, Complex Organic Molecules in Space by Sun Kwok, and Communication as the Main Characteristic of Life by Guenther Witzany (search).

Krasnokutski, Serge, et al. Formation of extraterrestrial peptides and their derivatives. Science Advances. April 17, 2024. MPI Astronomy and University of Poitier, France astrophysicists achieve a strongest verification to date of the ISM occurrence, real protochemistry and precursor occasion for this vital component.

The formation of protein precursors, due to the condensation of atomic carbon under the low-temperature conditions of the molecular phases of the interstellar medium, opens alternative pathways for the origin of life. We perform peptide synthesis under conditions prevailing in space and provide a comprehensive characterization of its products. The application of 13C allowed us to confirm the pathway of peptide formation due to the polymerization of aminoketene molecules formed in the C + CO + NH3 reaction. (Excerpt)

Our studies have detected the formation of Gly-Gly and Gly-Gly-Gly peptides, which aid in the condensation of amino acid derivatives in aqueous solution. In this sense, the found pathway for the peptide formation is autocatalytic, which could potentially initiate natural selection in early Earth or even in the liquid phase of asteroids and comets. The peptides are also considered promising candidates for the formation of protomembranes. (5)

A peptide is a short string of 2 to 50 amino acids, formed by a condensation reaction, joining together through a covalent bond. Sequential covalent bonds with additional amino acids yield a peptide chain and the building block of proteins.

Krelowski, Jacek. Organic Molecules in Translucent Interstellar Clouds. Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres. Online December, 2014. A latest report on the presence of complex, carbon bearing molecules in this vast milieu, as if a celestial slow-cooker brewing up life and observers. A particular interest is that the author is at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland. Some five centuries on a cosmic Copernican revolution from machine to genesis seems well underway by virtue of these many findings.

Krift, Sebastiaan, et al. Chemical Habitability:Supply and Retention of Life’s Essential Elements during Planet Formation. arXiv:2203.10056. Eight exo-experts from the UK, the Netherlands, the USA and France including Sean Raymond and Oliver Shorttle continue to find and fill in a deeo proclivity to form complex biochemicals suitably on the way to evolutionary organisms. In regard, just 30 years after the first exoplanet sightings, a comprehensive wiseworld study like this across wide spatial and temporal spans, with some 650 references, quite infers an innately fertile ecosmic genesis. One could say all the further way to our unique Earthuman retrospective discovery.

Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus and Sulfur (CHNOPS) play key roles in the origin and proliferation of life on Earth. Given the universality of physics and chemistry, not least the ubiquity of water and carbon in complex molecules, CHNOPS are likely crucial to most habitable worlds. To help guide and inform the search for potentially habitable environments, we first cite the CHNOPS budget of various reservoirs on Earth, their role in our biosphere, and origins in the Solar Nebula. We then view how these elements occur in diverse astrophysical settings from dying stars to molecular clouds, protoplanets, and temperate rocky planets around main sequence stars. (Abstract excerpt)

Kwok, Sun. Organics in the Solar System. arXiv:1901.04627. The University of Hong Kong prolific researcher and longtime advocate of astrobiochemical science continues to catalog how profusely our cosmic nature fills itself with all the vital substances that life needs to evolve and learn.

Complex organics are now commonly found in meteorites, comets, asteroids, planetary satellites, and interplanetary dust particles. The chemical composition and possible origin of these organics are presented. Specifically, we discuss the possible link between Solar System organics and the complex organics synthesized during the late stages of stellar evolution. Implications of extraterrestrial organics on the origin of life on Earth and the possibility of existence of primordial organics on Earth are also discussed. (Abstract)

Kwok, Sun and Scott Sandford, eds. Organic Matter in Space. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Proceedings of the 251st Symposium of the IAU held in Hong Kong, February 2008, where the results of the Stardust satellite that successfully passed through a cometary tail, sampled its composition, and returned material to earth was the prime topic. An introductory paper by Ewine van Dishoeck provides an overview, while a Jet Propulsion Laboratory website for the mission: http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html describes the incredible range of inorganic and organic chemicals recovered.

Lammer, Helmut, et al. The Science of Exoplanets and Their Systems. Astrobiology. 13/9, 2013. Astrolife researchers from France, Israel, Washington, DC, and California lead off this issue on novel findings of profligate ovular worlds whereupon fertile matter in favorable conditions can stir, evolve, and quicken into complexity and consciousness. How amazing, after billions of years, on one great earth a planetary progeny can begin to search the skies and learn through instrumentation, computation, and collaboration about a newly conducive spacescape of bioworlds as so many seeds or eggs.

A scientific forum on ‘‘The Future Science of Exoplanets and Their Systems,’’ sponsored by Europlanet and the International Space Science Institute and co-organized by the Center for Space and Habitability of the University of Bern, was held during December, 2012, in Bern, Switzerland. It gathered 24 well-known specialists in exoplanetary, Solar System, and stellar science to discuss the future of the fast-expanding field of exoplanetary research, which now has nearly 1000 objects to analyze and compare and will develop even more quickly over the coming years. The forum discussions included a review of current observational knowledge, efforts for exoplanetary atmosphere characterization and their formation, water formation, atmospheric evolution, habitability aspects, and our understanding of how exoplanets interact with their stellar and galactic environment throughout their history. (Abstract)

By doing this, questions such as those listed below may be solved in the near future: Is there a typical architecture of planets and/or planetary systems? What is driving planet formation and evolution? What is the relevance of planet formation and a system’s impact history to the evolution of Earth-like habitats and planets in general (i.e., its outgassing history, hence relationships between interiors and atmospheres, climate stabilization for habitable planets related to different rock/ice/atmosphere ratios, etc.)? By dealing within a multi-parameter space, the most relevant observables that can be described with a minimum of complexity to understand planetary evolution were debated and identified. (794)

Lemarchand, Guillermo and Karen Meech, eds. Bioastronomy ’99: A New Era in Bioastronomy. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2000. A wide array of thoughts and reports on the occasion of life and intelligence in a universe becoming seen as innately biological in kind. Jill Tarter, John Billingham, Ben Finney, Lori Marino, John Oro, Simon Conway Morris, et al are among the stellar cast.

Lingham, Manasvi and Abraham Loeb. Life in the Cosmos: From Biosignatures to Technosignatures. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021. Akin to Wade Roush herein, a Florida Institute of Technology astrobiologist and a senior Harvard astronomer provide the latest broad and deep considerations.

“Are we alone in the universe?” Today the search for signatures of extraterrestrial life and intelligence has become an active scientific endeavor. Manasvi Lingam and Avi Loeb tackle three areas of interest in hunting for life “out there”: first, the pathways by which life originates and evolves; second, planetary and stellar factors that affect the habitability of worlds and biomarkers that may reveal microbial life; and finally, the detection of technological signals that could be indicative of intelligence. Drawing on empirical data, as well as the latest theoretical and computational developments, the authors make a compelling scientific case for the search for animate exoworlds.

Livio, Mario, et al, eds. Astrophysics of Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. The interstellar reaches are
suffused with biomolecules such as amino acids which in appropriate galactic and planetary environs facilitate the evolution of intelligent observation which can quantify and recognize them.

Longstaff, Alan. Astrobiology: An Introduction. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2014. A British biochemist, astronomer, university professor, and science advocate provides a comprehensive text for the latest realizations of an abiding dynamic cosmos which proceeds to populate itself with planetary worlds, biological precursors, and emergent, cognizant life. Subjects course from nucleosynthesis, stellar formations, astrochemistry, universal Darwinism to solar systems, habitable zones, prolific exoplanets, and conducive earths. Life is seen as a complex, self-organizing, adaptive chemical system that spontaneously emerges far from equilibrium. The work then wonders, within this fertile scenario, about an apparent absence of extraterrestrial civilizations. To reflect, in just a few years a revolutionary cosmic nursery or hatchery has been revealed, which we have hardly begun to realize or assimilate. With our own sun-earth occasion as unusually favorable (Tinetti), we could be on the verge of a grand genesis discovery of universal significance.

Self-organization means that patterns at the level of the entire organism emerge from simple rules that operate at a local level. This is perhaps easier to imagine if we think about self-organization seen at the level of groups of organisms. For example, flocking in birds—the coordinated behavior of thousands of animals that creates a large-scale structure that changes over time—is possible because each individual bird operates a set of simple rules according to what its nearest neighbors have just done. In individual organisms, self-organization emerges from some “simple” rules of chemistry. Macromolecules spontaneously fold or assemble to adopt the lowest energy conformations, and this allows more complex structures to self-assemble. Indeed self-organization is perhaps most impressively seen in the development of multicellular organisms. This unfolding of a developmental program that takes a fertilized egg to an adult is self-organization on a grand scale since the original progenitor cell has no master plan that details all the steps. (158)

Complex adaptive systems are those which change their functionality (behavior) in response to their history (i.e., what has happened to them before) and in response to their environment. In other words, adaptive systems have a memory. This allows organisms to regulate their internal processes: metabolism, growth, cell division, etc. in light of external contingencies. (158)

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