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August 18, 2025

OoL digest — August 18

This week we have 19 new papers on the origin of life. Enjoy!


Astrobiology

Warm, water-depleted rocky exoplanets with surface ionic liquids: A proposed class for planetary habitability
Agrawal et al. — preprint

Cooperative robotic exploration of a planetary skylight surface and lava cave
Domínguez et al. — Science Robotics

Strong parameter hierarchy in the interstellar phosphorus chemical network
Fernández-Ruz et al. — Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences

Application of optical photothermal infrared spectroscopy (O-PTIR) for future returned Mars samples
Heinz et al. — Review of Scientific Instruments

Intact polar lipids as organic biomarkers of viable extraterrestrial life
Hirsch et al. — npj Space Exploration

Biosignature false positives in potentially habitable planets around M dwarfs: the effect of UV radiation from one flare
Miranda-Rosete et al. — The Astrophysical Journal

Slow Radiolysis of Amino Acids in Mars-Like Permafrost Conditions: Applications to the Search for Extant Life on Mars
Pavlov et al. — Astrobiology

Replicating the flyby sampling of salty ocean world ice grains using impact ionization mass spectrometry
Seaton et al. — preprint

K2-18b Does Not Meet The Standards of Evidence For Life
Stevenson et al. — preprint

The “Bagno dell’Acqua” Lake as a Novel Mars-like Analogue: Prebiotic Syntheses of PNA and RNA Building Blocks and Oligomers
Ubertini et al. — International Journal of Molecular Sciences


Astrophysics

A D/H ratio consistent with Earth’s water in Halley-type comet 12P from ALMA HDO mapping
Cordiner et al. — Nature Astronomy

Strict Limits on Potential Secondary Atmospheres on the Temperate Rocky Exo-Earth TRAPPIST-1 d
Piaulet-Ghorayeb et al. — The Astrophysical Journal


Biochemistry

Polymerization and replication of primordial RNA induced by clay-water interface dynamics
Alejandre et al. — Communications Chemistry

Mimicking early life-forms in the lab
Lubbers et al. — eLife

Negative Membrane Potentials Potentiate Multicellularity
Uzoigwe — BioSystems


Biology

Flourishing chemosynthetic life at the greatest depths of hadal trenches
Peng et al. — Nature


Biophysics

Beyond the Second Law: Darwinian Evolution as a Tendency for Entropy Production to Increase
Lineweaver — Entropy


Chemistry

Experimental Models on the Prebiotic Formation of Biopolymer Building Blocks
Menor-Salván et al. — Astrobiology


Microbiology

Hydrodynamic flow and benthic boundary layer interactions shape the microbial community in Milos shallow water hydrothermal vents
Pelliciari Silva et al. — Frontiers in Microbiology

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