Could the blueprint for life have been generated in asteroids?

“I was amazed that they had seen cytosine, which is very fragile”

29-Apr-2022 - Using new analyses, scientists have just found the last two of the five informational units of DNA and RNA that had yet to be discovered in samples from meteorites. While it is unlikely that DNA could be formed in a meteorite, this discovery demonstrates that these genetic parts are available for ...

Google provides open source library for quantum chemistry

Platform-independent solution to integrate future developments

26-Oct-2017 - Since physicists have been dealing with the theoretical description of molecules, the solving of quantum mechanical equations has been a major obstacle. This is supposed to be a thing of the past with the release of an open source based system. Google has introduced such a system to the public ...

How do hydrogen droplets behave when hydrogen-oxygen aerosol mixtures burn?

20-Jun-2016 - Modern rockets and their launch vehicles commonly rely on hydrogen-oxygen mixtures as propellant, but this combination is highly explosive. The Challenger space shuttle catastrophe of 1986 is associated with self-ignition of such mixtures. Risks of explosion are mitigated by the evaporation and ...

3-D printing for building densely populated electronic assemblies investigated

21-Apr-2016 - As detector assemblies get smaller and denser -- packed with electronic components that all must be electrically connected to sense and read out signals -- it's becoming increasingly more challenging to design and manufacture these all-important instrument devices. A team of NASA technologists at ...

Printing nanomaterials with plasma

30-Mar-2016 - Printing has come a long way since the days of Johannes Gutenberg. Now, researchers have developed a new method that uses plasma to print nanomaterials onto a 3-D object or flexible surface, such as paper or cloth. The technique could make it easier and cheaper to build devices like wearable ...

From fluids to flames, research on the space station is helping advance technology

21-Aug-2015 - A study explored the finer points of fluid dynamics, something that is experienced across the planet, but cannot quite be studied as carefully on Earth. A phenomenon called Marangoni convection is one of the fundamental principles of liquid motion and is revealed much more clearly in ...

Watching alloys change from liquid to solid could lead to better metals

10-Mar-2015 - If you put a camera in the ice machine and watched water turn into ice, the process would look simple. But the mechanism behind liquids turning to solids is actually quite complex, and understanding it better could improve design and production of metals. A recent investigation aboard the ...

The role of goop: Research shows pollution doesn't change the rate of droplet formation

20-Feb-2013 - When it comes to forming the droplets that make up clouds, a little oily and viscous organic material apparently doesn't matter that much. And that's good news for reducing the uncertainty of climate model predictions. Understanding cloud formation is essential for accurate climate modeling, and ...

Searching for primordial antimatter

03-Nov-2008 - Scientists are on the hunt for evidence of antimatter - matter's arch nemesis – left over from the very early Universe. New results using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Compton Gamma Ray Observatory suggest the search may have just become even more difficult. Antimatter is made ...