400 Bad request

​Scientists have used lab experiments to retrace the chemical steps leading to the creation of complex hydrocarbons in space, showing pathways to forming 2-D carbon-based nanostructures in a mix of heated gases.

The latest study, which featured experiments at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), could help explain the presence of pyrene, which is a chemical compound known as a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and similar compounds in some meteorites.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-03-chemical-sleuthing-unravels-path-life.html#jCp

Freon find deals blow to ET search | Cosmos

A compound thought to be an indicator of biological life turns out to be far more common than previously thought. Andrew Masterson reports.

Source: cosmosmagazine.com/space/freon-find-deals-blow-to-et-search

Discovery alert! A nearby super Earth

NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program, the search for planets and life beyond our solar system.

Source: exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1459/discovery-alert-a-nearby-super-earth/

This researcher wants to initiate contact with Proxima Centauri b

The exoplanet next door could soon get an out-of-this-world radio broadcast.

Source: www.astronomy.com/news/2016/12/contact-with-proxmina-centauri-b

A SETI Signal? | SETI Institute

HD 164595, a solar system a few billion years older than the Sun but centered on a star of comparable size and brightness, is the purported source of a signal found with the RATAN-600 radio telescope in Zelenchukskaya, at the northern foot of the Caucasus Mountains.  This system is known to have one planet, a Neptune-sized world in a very tight orbit, making it unattractive for life.  However, there could be other planets in this system that are still undiscovered. 

The signal seems to have been discussed in a presentation given by several Russian astronomers as well as Italian researcher, Claudio Maccone, the Chair of the International Academy of Astronautics Permanent SETI Committee.  Maccone has recently sent an email to SETI scientists in which he describes this presentation, including the signal ascribed to star system HD 164595. 

Source: www.seti.org/seti-institute/a-seti-signal