November 2024 – My WordPress Site

Circles denote the location of eDNA samples collected and preserved by the ESP onboard Surveyor during its ~4200-km transit over 29 days (June 10–July 9, 2021) from San Francisco to the Hawaiian Islands. Transit across oceanographic domains, from the California Current upwelling system to the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, is represented by sea surface temperature (SST) from satellite remote sensing. Shown is the June 2021 average of multiscale ultra-high resolution (MUR) SST Analysis fv04.1, acquired from https://coastwatch.pfeg.noaa.gov/erddap/index.html.

Analog Studies, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Microbiology & Virology, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Tricorders & Sensors, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ocean Planet Exploration Droids: Autonomous eDNA Collection Using An Uncrewed Surface Vessel

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2024November 30, 2024

The collection of environmental DNA (eDNA) samples is often laborious, costly, and logistically difficult to accomplish at high frequency in remote locations and over large geographic areas.

NASA ID: PIA24028 Larger image

Europa, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Jupiter, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Radiation

What Would The Nightside Of Europa Look Like?

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2024November 30, 2024

A diagram of the worldbuilding pipeline developed for this study. The pipeline begins with the global and technology factors that define each scenario from Table 5 and other assumptions common to all scenarios (grey). These inputs are given to the Claude LLM, which then generates a description of the world (blue). Additional narrative and descriptions of the planetary bodies are added manually (purple). This information provides the basis for a human needs assessment that determines the different uses of land on each planetary body (orange). These results are used to describe the physical technosphere and potentially detectable technosignatures (yellow), which provide recommendations for technosignature detection (green). -- astro-ph.IM

Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Intelligence & Language, Interstellar, Science Fiction, SETI & Technosignatures

Projections of Earth’s Technosphere. I. Scenario Modeling, Worldbuilding, and Overview of Remotely Detectable Technosignatures

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2024

Negative Effects of Cosmic Radiation. Cosmic radiation consists of Solar Particle Events and Galactic Cosmic Rays. It contains protons (H+ ), alpha particles (He++ ), heavy ions and electrons (e- ) which can damage biomolecules that are essential for the survival of the living things. This damage can lead to many negative effects in lifespan, reproduction, cognition, social abilities, stress resistance and general health. -- physics.bio-ph

Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Missions & Hardware, Radiation, Space Life Science, Space Physiology & Medicine, Space Weather & Heliophysics

Protection Against Cosmic Radiation Through Biological Response Pathways

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2024November 30, 2024

Conceptual illustration of terrestrial hot springs on early Earth -- Illustration by Alex Bosoy, Design & Illustration, LLC

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Fossils & Paleontology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life

Possible Role Of Iron Sulfides In Creating Life In Terrestrial Hot Springs

by Keith CowingNovember 29, 2024November 29, 2024

Left: The original Arecibo message intended to be reconstructed, but sent as a linear stream from the radiotelescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The 1,679 bits are meant to be arranged into 23 columns of 73 rows, 23 and 73 being two prime numbers which when multiplied together equal 1,679. Right: If the stream is instead arranged into 23 rows and 73 columns, the original visual interpretations of the message are scrambled, which may result in a figure that is closer to being statistically random. What we show is that the message is still there, concealed, and can be deciphered by algorithmic deconvolution. -- cs.CL

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Astronomy & Telescopes, Intelligence & Language, Interstellar, SETI & Technosignatures

Decoding Geometric Properties in Non-Random Data from First Information-Theoretic Principles

by Keith CowingNovember 29, 2024November 29, 2024

Major moons of Uranus -- NASA

Ariel, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Miranda, Oberon, Titania, Umbriel, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Uranus’ Swaying Moons Will Help Spacecraft Seek Out Hidden Oceans

by Keith CowingNovember 29, 2024May 12, 2025

Our target sample, showing the distribution of fit planet size, temperature, and stellar Teff . Red points are our primary sample, white points are known companions to our targets, dashed lines connect planets orbiting the same target star, and light gray points are other known exoplanets. The histogram at right shows how our planet sizes (red) compare to the intrinsic occurrence of sub-Neptunes (gray, Fulton & Petigura 2018). Noted that these best-fit radii differ from the TESS-reported radii plotted in Fig. 2c. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy

OrCAS: Origins, Compositions, and Atmospheres of Sub-neptunes. I. Survey Definition

by Keith CowingNovember 29, 2024November 29, 2024

This image highlights two alternatives for the ribosome to be recruited to an mRNA that is still being synthesized by RNA polymerase (RNAP). RNAP (left, red) can directly deliver the mRNA to the entry channel of the small ribosomal subunit (left, yellow). Alternatively, and likely dominant in bacteria, RNAP (green) can interact with ribosomal protein bS1 (right, cyan). bS1 binds and guides the mRNA (right, white and glowing) from RNAP into the small ribosomal subunit (right, yellow). CREDIT Image courtesy of Mohammad Afsar and Huma Rahil.

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life

The Structural Link For Initiation Of Protein Synthesis In Bacteria

by Keith CowingNovember 29, 2024November 29, 2024

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Impact events

The Response of Planetary Atmospheres to the Impact of Icy Comets I: Tidally-Locked exo-Earths

by Keith CowingNovember 29, 2024November 29, 2024