OoL digest — November 15th edition

Four new papers and one book preprint this week in astronomy/astrobiology and biochemistry.

Astronomy/astrobiology: Bains summarizes the Venusian PH$_3$ discovery and its scientific debate, Byrne introduces a new predicted exoplanet category with a brittle outer layer, Cockell discusses the implications of binary/continuous habitability metrics, and the National Academies of Sciences announces a preprint of their Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s that identifies science goals for the next decade.

Biochemistry: Cesur discusses microbial growth in deliquescent brines and its implication as a contamination to Mars.

Astronomy/astrobiology

Venusian phosphine: a “Wow!” signal in chemistry? – Bains et al. – Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elements

The Effects of Planetary and Stellar Parameters on Brittle Lithospheric Thickness – Byrne et al. – Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets

Habitability Is Binary, But It Is Used by Astrobiologists to Encompass Continuous Ecological Questions – Cockell et al. – Astrobiology

Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s – National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine – Book

Biochemistry

Bacterial Growth in Brines Formed by the Deliquescence of Salts Relevant to Cold Arid Worlds – Cesur et al. – Astrobiology

Alexandre Champagne‑Ruel
PhD Candidate - Astrophysics

My research interests include statistical physics, complex systems and major evolutionary transitions.