r/Astrobiology

I have basically no background in biology. I have spiky depth of knowledge in astrophysics, and a degree in electrical engineering, so please don't rip me to shreds if the following premise is objectively impossible.

I am writing a trauma epic into humanity's far future (30k years from present day) utilizing mostly known science to yield plausible technology in my world building for this. The only handwave being the ontological transfer for global consciousness downclocking within an ultra high relativeistic spaceships to enable human scale rapid transit at interstellar distances. I have built my world on a hybrid of loud and landaur engineering principles.

In chapter 9, far off the interstellar laser highway infrastructure - my protagonist ends up on the only earth-like colonized world in the whole story (most are toxic, vacuum, hostile, etc.).

I have decided to craft this currently unnamed world as a world that is only 45% covered with deep oceans (up to 29km deep in trenches). The land is a super contenent that stretches over both poles. The land has flora (plant like and tree like structures except its not wood its a chitonous-like material.

The haunting thing is: there is no land fauna. Only ocean fauna but not near the shallow shores.

Because I am about maximum plausability in my world building; is such a planet possible by any such mechanism, no matter how bizarre?

World specs are:

Atmosphere: 1.02 Atm

Gravity: 0.89g

Atmospheric Composition: 78.5%, nitrogen, 20.5% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.05% CO2, 0.05% trace gases

Land to Water Ratio: 55% L to 45% W

Maximum peak: 16.88km

Minima Trench: 29.1km

>Scientists have known about these markings for roughly a century, yet the chemical identity of the material responsible—the “unknown absorber”—remains unresolved.

An international research team has now placed new quantitative constraints on the properties of this mysterious absorber.

By combining observations of Venus with radiative-transfer modeling, the researchers estimated how strongly the liquid inside Venus’s cloud droplets would need to absorb light to reproduce the planet’s observed ultraviolet and blue reflectance.

The study, published in Astrobiology, approached the mystery from a new perspective.

It used a model to answer a question posed by lead author Dr. Jan SPACEK:

If we were to collect Venus’s cloud droplets into a spectrometric cuvette, how would the re-formed bulk liquid appear?

The difference between how a cloud looks and how its material looks when collected in bulk can be striking.

Cigarette smoke, for example, appears white because its sub-micrometer particles scatter light very efficiently. Yet when the smoke particles are collected in a flask, they form a dense suspension of burned tobacco—a tar-like sludge.

A similar optical principle applies to Venus’s clouds, as their particle size distribution is comparable to that of cigarette smoke. Thus, even though the clouds appear pale yellow to a remote observer, the liquid forming the cloud droplets might be surprisingly dark.

On a hypothetical Earth-like planet (similar temperatures, liquid H2O, atmosphere, magnetosphere, land mass etc.) is there any reason to think that multicellular life might develop similarly to what we see on Earth? Such as organisms that have chitin, cartilage, bone and muscle, even if the chemistry is different? Not organisms that look like Earth organisms, but something similar to vertebrates with appendages?

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Bonus question, is panspermia considered some old, obsolete notion these days or is there anyone who considers it plausible?

I’m a high school senior trying to figure out what I want to study in college. I honestly don’t know if I want to become a doctor, work in a lab, or pursue research, but I know that I love biology. I’ve realized, though, that I enjoy learning about astrobiology much more than general biology, especially topics involving the origins of life, extremophiles, and the possibility of life beyond Earth.

I’m considering majoring in astrobiology because it’s something I’m genuinely excited to learn about, but I’m worried about limiting my career options. Would it be possible to major in astrobiology while completing the prerequisites for medical school? And how versatile is an astrobiology degree if I eventually decide to pursue laboratory work or research instead of medicine?

I’d love to hear from anyone who studied astrobiology or a related field, especially those who were also considering multiple career paths when choosing their major.

Scientists may have found a clue to one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the origin of life: how fragile RNA molecules could gather and survive before cells existed.

New research shows that RNA is unusually good at assembling into tiny liquid-like droplets that concentrate molecules and can harden into protective, gel-like structures.

>Remarkably, much of this behavior may come down to a single oxygen-containing chemical group that RNA has but DNA lacks.

When we sent out Voyager 1 (later Voyager 2) into space, we sent golden records with with them to let any living things that might find them so they would know where to look for us. What I am thinking about is "What if we send living samples into space like we did with Voyagers so nothing will stop them" I mean things like self sustaining tarrarium. IT only needs gravity (could be done with centrifuge), light (could be done with LED grow lights) and tempeture (this could be some heater), but I am still thinking about the power ( maybe some power from solar panels but after some distance it would not be enough. What do you think of all this?