Scientists have found that one of the key pillars of theory around how life works – that it depends on carbon – may not be the case on other planets. Here on Earth, life depends on organic compounds which are composed of carbon, and often involve other elements such as sulphur, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and phosphorus. With organic compounds, life is partly sustained by chemical interactions called autocatalysis, which are self-sustaining. That means they produce molecules which then enable the reaction to happen again, and do not need any outside influence to keep going on. In the new study, scientists looked for autocatalysis in non-organic compounds. The theory is that if autocatalysis helps drive a process called abiogenesis – the origin process for life – then this origin process could also come from non-organic matter. Betül Kaçar, an astrobiologist, bacteriologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told news outlet Space.com: “It's important to explore these possibilities so that we have an idea of what all forms of life can look like, not just Earth life.” "One of the major reasons that origin-of-life researchers care about autocatalysis is because reproduction — a key feature of life — is an example of autocatalysis. “Life catalyses the formation of more life. One cell produces two cells, which can become four and so on. “As the number of cells multiply, the number and diversity of possible interactions multiplies accordingly.” The scientists searched in a huge trove of existing scientific documents for examples of autocatalysis, and found 270 different cycles of the reactions. Most of the 270 examples did not feature organic compounds, but rather elements which are rare in life forms such as mercury, or the radioactive metal thorium. “It was thought that these sorts of reactions are very rare,” Kaçar said in a statement. “We are showing that it's actually far from rare. You just need to look in the right place.” Now, it means scientists can test these cycles to get a better understanding of how autocatalysis can work. “The cycles presented here are an array of basic recipes that can be mixed and matched in ways that haven't been tried before on our planet,” said study author Zhen Peng, also an evolutionary biologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “They might lead to the discovery of completely new examples of complex chemistry that work in conditions where carbon- or even silicon-based cycles are too either combusted or frozen out.” The scientists published their findings in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

AMHERST, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 20, 2023--

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 14, 2023--

Artificial intelligence darling Nvidia's upcoming earnings report could be a boost or a drag on a market already mired in the summer doldrums.

Alibaba Group said on Tuesday its CEO and chairman Daniel Zhang will step down from those roles to

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Peloton has apologised to its customers after technical issues kept them from joining its special Thanksgiving ride. The rides had been held to break the Guinness World Records for the largest live streamed cycling and running classes. But they also had the effect of breaking Peloton’s systems, with riders unable to join the “Turkey Burn” class with instructor Robin Arzón for the first 20 minutes. Peloton’s relatively new chief executive, Barry McCarthy, apologised for the experience on the company’s official Facebook page. “We set out to create an amazing annual Turkey Burn Ride experience, and we let you down,” he wrote on the page. The number of riders “overwhelmed our technical infrastructure”, he said. “I know for many of you, this has become an annual tradition, and we owe you the best possible Member experience,” he wrote. “On behalf of the team, we apologise.” Despite the issues, Peloton was able to set the records for the largest live streamed cycling and running class. The company brought in Guinness World Records officials to verify the count, and were given the record for the ”Most viewers of a static cycling lesson live stream on a Bespoke platform”, as well as for running. The cycling class had 27,550 live participants, a spokesperson said. That was lower than the number that had been seen on the leaderboard, though it is not clear whether the discrepancy was the result of the technical problems. Despite the official recognition, the ride and run is not actually Peloton’s biggest live ride: 2021 and 2020 saw more, with the latter seemingly setting the record at more than 50,000 people, according to Peloton news website Pelobuddy. Peloton saw rapid growth through 2020 and 2021, spurred in large part by the move to work out at home during lockdowns. But it has experienced a number of issues since, including recalls of its bikes and seemingly lower interest as people head back to gyms. It has lost around 80 per cent of its share price value since it was listed towards the end of 2019. And its stock has fallen almost 97 per cent since its record highs in late 2020. Read More Nasa has received a signal from 10 million miles away Nvidia sued over ‘stolen’ data revealed in video conferencing mishap AI breakthrough could help us build solar panels out of ‘miracle material’

As 30 environment and trade ministers, and 50 CEOs gather in Paris for the 8th international conference on energy efficiency, the International Energy Agency is taking stock

US president Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris joined Instagram’s Threads after the White House said Elon Musk’s sharing of an antisemitic conspiracy theory on X was “unacceptable”. Within an hour of joining the rival Meta-owned platform, Mr Biden’s profile garnered over two million followers. “Folks, it’s President Biden,” the official US president’s account posted on Threads. “You’re hearing from me today from a new platform, but my message to you hasn’t changed: Right now, we face an inflection point – one of those challenging moments in history where the decisions we make today will determine decades to come,” the president said. Several accounts on the X rival app responded to the post, calling for a ceasefire amid Israel’s invasion of Gaza, and posting “Free Palestine” along with words of support for Palestinians. Mr Biden joining Threads ahead of a presidential election could boost the platform’s legitimacy and bring more followers to the app. The White House’s decision comes as X, formerly Twitter, is embroiled in a controversy over the platform’s owner Mr Musk endorsing a post falsely asserting that Jewish people “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them”. The conspiracy theory was among the hateful ideas referenced by the gunman who carried out the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history, killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018. Mr Musk immediately faced backlash for sharing the post at a time when Jewish people were facing an increasing amount of hostility due to the Israel-Hamas conflict which began on 7 October. “It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for the White House, said in a statement. Watchdog group Media Matters for America said earlier that it found advertisements for companies like IBM, Apple and Oracle were being placed alongside antisemitic content on X. A number of companies, including Apple, Disney, Discovery, Warner Bros, and Paramount Global have paused their ads on X. The latest incident marked yet another effect of X failing to moderate harmful content. It also points to the Biden administration’s efforts to turn to more social media platforms to engage with users ahead of the 2024 presidential elections. Mr Musk responded on Sunday saying X would be filing a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against Media Matters “and all those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company.” Responding to the Tesla Titan’s post, Media Matters president Angelo Carusone called Mr Musk a “bully who threatens meritless lawsuits”. “Musk admitted the ads at issue ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified. If he does sue us, we will win,” Mr Carusone said. X has not responded to The Independent’s request for comment. Read More Musk files defamation suit against Media Matters over Nazi X post claims Elon Musk and Trump aide want journalists jailed over X Hitler exposé Elon Musk insists he’s not antisemitic after sharing antisemitic post SpaceX Starship rocket loses contact after reaching space: Live updates Disney, Apple suspend ads on Musk’s X after he agrees with antisemitic tweet SpaceX to launch world’s biggest rocket again after first attempt ended in explosion

The early-morning fire at an e-bike store in lower Manhattan that left four dead was caused by lithium-ion batteries, the city's fire commissioner said Tuesday.

Remember when Elon Musk changed Twitter's logo to Doge, the shiba inu dog mascot of

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 31, 2023--