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August 25, 2025

OoL digest — August 25

This week we have 27 new papers on the origin of life. Enjoy!


Retractions

Many thanks to an attentive reader that brought this retraction to my attention.

Retraction Note: Generation of long-chain fatty acids by hydrogen-driven bicarbonate reduction in ancient alkaline hydrothermal vents
Purvis et al. — Communications Earth & Environment


Artificial Life

Extending a Phylogeny-based Method for Detecting Signatures of Multi-level Selection for Applications in Artificial Life
Moreno et al. — preprint


Astrobiology

The variety and origin of materials accreted by Bennu’s parent asteroid
Barnes et al. — Nature Astronomy

Extreme Environments of Latin America: Natural Laboratories for Astrobiology
Bolivar-Torres et al. — preprint

CO Adsorption Sites on Interstellar Water Ices Explored with Machine Learning Potentials. Binding energy distributions and snowline
Bovolenta et al. — preprint

Core metamorphism controls the dynamic habitability of mid-sized ocean worlds—The case of Ceres
Courville et al. — Science Advances

Stellar metallicity is a key parameter for the search of Life in the Universe
Covone et al. — preprint

Agnostic Tools for Life Detection: A Multiscale Approach to Biological and Chemical Reaction Networks
Cuevas et al. — preprint

The Importance of Aqueous Metabolites in the Martian Subsurface for Understanding Habitability, Organic Chemical Evolution, and Potential Biology
Eigenbrode et al. — preprint

Detecting Extraterrestrial Civilizations that Employ an Earth-level Deep Space Network
Fan et al. — The Astrophysical Journal Letters

A Compositionally Biased Oligourethane Sensor Array To Differentiate Solids by Their Surface Chemistry: An Analogy to the Sense of Touch
Fargher et al. — Journal of the American Chemical Society

A Search for Life in the Universe Advances Life on Earth
Fontana et al. — preprint

Space weathering effects in Bennu asteroid samples
Keller et al. — Nature Geoscience

Astrovirology, Astrobiology, Artificial Intelligence: Extra-Solar System Investigations
Shapshak — Global Virology III: Virology in the 21st Century

Mineralogical evidence for hydrothermal alteration of Bennu samples
Zega et al. — Nature Geoscience


Astrochemistry

Overview of complex organic molecule observations in protostellar systems
Nazari — preprint


Astrophysics

JWST Spectroscopy of (142) Polana: Connection to NEAs (101955) Bennu and (162173) Ryugu
Arredondo et al. — The Planetary Science Journal

The Fraction of Distilled White Dwarfs with Long-Lived Habitable Zones
Barrientos et al. — preprint


Biochemistry

Adsorption of L-Arginine and L-Lysine on Calcium Montmorillonite in the Presence of γ-Aminobutyric Acid
Braeuer et al. — preprint

Mellitic Acid as a Stable Abiotic Precursor for Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation: An RNA-Independent Pathway for Prebiotic Compartmentalization
Dec et al. — Chemistry (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany)

Photochemical Generation and Characterization of Alanine Imine: A Key Intermediate in Prebiotic Amino Acid Formation
Drabkin et al. — preprint

Constraints on the G1/S transition pathway may favor selection of simple multicellularity as a passenger phenotype
Ducrocq et al. — preprint

From Polymerization-Enabled Folding and Assembly to Chemical Evolution: Key Processes for Emergence of Functional Polymers in the Origin of Life
Edri et al. — Astrobiology


Biology

Phylogenetic Diversity Across the Complete Tree of Life
Guo et al. — preprint


Biophysics

Origins of Life: The Possible and the Actual
Stepney et al. — preprint


Microbiology

Characterizing Microbial Communities in >7000- and >180,000-Year-Old Antarctic Permafrost Using a Low-Biomass Decontamination Protocol
Anderson et al. — Astrobiology

Distinct filament morphology and membrane tethering features of the dual FtsZ paralogs in Odinarchaeota
Kumari et al. — The EMBO Journal


Planetary Sciences

The Existing Frameworks of Delivery of Major Volatiles and the Feasibility of Mars-Mass Planetary Embryos as the Major Volatile Contributors to Bulk Silicate Earth
Pathak et al. — Astrobiology

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