​Phosphorus, the last of the six ingredients necessary for life, was discovered on Enceladus ● Plate tectonics are not necessary in the origin of life equation ● “Smart” pills don’t make you smarter

Phosphorus, the last of the six ingredients necessary for life, was discovered on Enceladus

Carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and hydrogen are five of the six elements considered necessary for organic molecules to form. And all of them have already been discovered on Enceladus, a small satellite of the planet Saturn. Only one important element was missing – phosphorus.

Thanks to a team of researchers from the University of Berlin, this element was recently identified in ice samples obtained by the Cassini probe before it ended its mission in 2017 and was destroyed in the atmosphere of the planet Saturn.

Phosphorus particles were discovered by the German team after more than four studies based on data transmitted to Cassini, in the form of phosphate. And what is even more interesting, on Enceladus the concentration of phosphorus can be at least a hundred times higher than on Earth.

And phosphorus, say German researchers, is an indispensable element for life as we know it. Without it, life would not exist. Basically, it is the “backbone” of DNA molecules, the cell membrane and adenosine triphosphate, the energy “generator” of the cell.

We cannot yet talk about direct evidence of the existence of life on Enceladus, but the probability that it has already arisen there has increased significantly. Then, if there is life on Saturn’s moon, emphasize the authors of the study published in Nature, you don’t have to think about it in the complex form that we know on Earth, in fish or, for example, cetaceans. . Life on Enceladus most likely exists at the microbial level, but it is not much different from Earth.

It is true that many oceanic life forms on Earth could theoretically live in the oceans beneath the ice covering Enceladus. But this does not mean that similar people already live there. However, the fact that phosphorus has been discovered for the first time on another celestial body is a huge step forward in the discovery of extraterrestrial life forms, even if only on a microscopic level.

Currently, no mission to Enceladus is planned in the near future. But there are some who will study worlds similar to Enceladus. The European Space Agency’s JUICE mission, launched this April, will first explore Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, a celestial body that contains three times as much water as Earth. Then Callisto and Europa, two other worlds that contain oceans of liquid water, some of which may have the biochemistry of life possible.

Tectonic plates are not necessary in the origin of life equation

Since the recognition of the existence of tectonic plates, proposed by the German geologist Alfred Lothar Wegener in 1912, it has been said that tectonic plates played a crucial role in the origin of life on our planet. First, because they allowed the release of heat from the interior of the planet, then because they controlled it, because they allowed the formation of continents and shamd magnetic field.

Everything is not quite so, according to several researchers from the University of Rochester, USA, in a recent study published in the journal Nature. According to the data provided by them, the tectonic plates had not yet formed 3.9 billion years ago, when the seeds of life are thought to have appeared.

Rather, heat from the planet’s interior, a fundamental factor in the biochemical equation of life, was released through static pits and fissures in the Earth’s crust. So, the conclusion is simple… tectonic plates are not a necessary condition for the appearance of the first forms of life.

These experts came to this conclusion after analyzing zirconium grains and their magnetic properties. Depending on their age, scientists can reconstruct the latitude at which the grains formed, as well as the fluctuations of the magnetic field. What came as a surprise was that their zircon samples, originally from South Africa, showed no change in the 3.4-3.9 billion year range. In particular, there were no tectonic plates that caused the movement of the continents.

Now, as in the case of the previous news, you don’t need to fall on your back with happiness that the chances of finding life elsewhere, as it exists on Earth, have increased. Yes, it is possible, but without tectonic plates, the Earth would look very different than it does today. It would most likely be similar to Venus. A planet with clouds of sulfuric acid, with an atmosphere based mainly on carbon dioxide, and this is because there would be no “engine” to remove excess heat from the surface of the planet. You guessed it… tectonic plates.

“Smart” pills do not make you smarter

If you remember, in 2011 there was a Hollywood movie (Limitless) starring Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and others, which was about a synthetic drug that greatly increased the intelligence of those who took it. Well, many people wanted to get such a miracle drug that would allow them to write a brilliant novel in just a few days, make huge money on the stock market or make unknown discoveries.

Obviously, the movie is sci-fi, but the idea remains. And even if you can’t become a genius overnight, at least pass the exams, and it’s still an excuse for many students to try all kinds of IQ pills.

As expected, such pills already exist on the market and are increasingly being consumed. At least in the West, because information comes to us from there. These are two stimulants, methylphenidate and dextroamphetamine. The idea is that these stimulants are prescribed to people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The problem is that more and more students are taking them to improve their concentration and ability to study. And this is a big mistake, according to the material published in New Scientist, because the drugs in question do not have the desired effect in people who do not suffer from ADHD.

Rather, it’s a placebo effect doubled by the increase in dopamine, because that’s what the mentioned drugs do. The level of dopamine increases. In translation, you have the feeling that you are active, that you are busy, that you spend more time studying, but the effect is by no means better. It’s just a feel-good feeling created by dopamine.

In fact, testing 40 volunteers showed that their scores, despite putting more effort into solving the tests, were lower than usual. In conclusion, it is also worth turning to classical education. There is still no magic pill that will make you write a PhD in a week, and that’s without even having a bachelor’s degree. Or do you know? There would be, but we are not told, and they would be available only to those… from above, from politics.

Follow our Facebook page, HotNews Science, to be able to receive live information and curiosities from the world of science in real time!

Photo source: profimediaimages.ro