How Finger Oximeters Work

https://tube.blueben.net/w/hPiwho4wxLnic5ZyQJBLsh

Given sufficient electricity, we can make #Hydrogen in quantity without reforming Methane. The #Oxygen is a probably useful byproduct.
Given heat, pressure, and a catalyst, we can combine it with atmospheric #Nitrogen to make #Ammonia, a direct fertiliser, and starting point for Nitric acid and then #Nitrates. Among #AmmoniumNitrate 's uses is fertiliser for growng food.

I think we might build an Ammonia plant next to a #fission boiler, and use #heat as well as perhaps #electricity from it.

Here is a problem that has been quietly gnawing at astronomers for decades.

The standard approach to detecting #life on other worlds involves scanning #exoplanet #atmospheres for #oxygen, #methane, and #ozone, whose presence is difficult to explain without #biology.

It's a clever idea, but it carries a hidden flaw. That entire shopping list was written by studying Earth. It is, inevitably, a search for life like us.

The list of ways that #chemistry alone can accidentally mimic these #biosignature gases is growing faster than the list of new ways to detect life.

Each new false positive scenario demands even more information about the #planet to rule it out, and there is a genuine question about whether that information can ever be gathered exhaustively.

But there is a solution.

#Assembly theory doesn't ask what #molecules are present in an #atmosphere. Instead, it asks how hard they were to make.

Every molecule can be assigned an assembly index, a minimum number of construction steps required to build it from basic #chemical building blocks.

Simple molecules are easy to assemble by chance, but truly complex ones, requiring many sequential steps, don't arise without something doing a great deal of deliberate selection.

That something would then be life itself.

#astrobiology #astronomy
https://phys.org/news/2026-03-life.html

Paper by Walker et al. (2026): https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.11086

These Liquid Trees Outperform Nature

https://tube.blueben.net/w/2nQY6oTvbzq7UGKGdvPzLp

For #life to develop on a #planet, certain chemical elements are needed in sufficient quantities.

#Phosphorus is vital for the formation of DNA and RNA, which store and transmit genetic information, and for the energy balance of cells.

#Nitrogen is an essential component of proteins, which are needed for the formation, structure, and function of cells.

Without these two elements, no life can develop out of lifeless matter but there are also more profound consequences.

During the formation of a #planet's core, there needs to be exactly the right amount of oxygen present so that phosphorus and nitrogen can remain on the surface of the planet.

This was exactly the case with Earth around 4.6 billion years ago—a stroke of chemical good fortune in the #universe.

When #planets form, they initially develop out of molten rock.

A sorting process occurs during this time: heavy metals such as iron sink down and form the core, while lighter metals form the mantle and the crust.

If there is too little #oxygen present during the formation of the core, phosphorus will fuse with heavy metals such as iron and move to the core.

This element is then no longer available for the development of life.

On the other hand, too much oxygen present during core formation leads to phosphorus remaining in the mantle and #nitrogen being more likely to escape into the #atmosphere, ultimately being lost.

#astronomy #astrobiology
https://phys.org/news/2026-02-small-planets-suitable-life.html

Paper by Walton et al. (2026):
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02775-z