Sentences with phrase «chemical traces of life»

Although we are some time off from probing a distant potentially habitable world's atmosphere for the presence of liquid water or chemical traces of life, Kepler - along with supporting observations by other space - and ground - based instrumentation - is giving us a tantalizing hint of the preponderance of small rocky worlds in the Milky Way.

Not exact matches

The process of synthesis by which azoic elements have reached their present multiplicity and complexity is an evolution, the same process entirely as the biologist traces in the order of living things, and the synthetic chemical compound embodies in itself a complex relativity capable of being expressed in most exact laws, which reflect the evolutionary emergence of its substance as much as do the organs of an animal explained in terms of evolutionary development.

It is quite probable that Earth 2.0 will be hundreds or even thousands of light years away; too far from us to detect trace chemical «biosignatures» that would suggest life.

But in recent years, scientists have developed high - tech methods to map the chemical traces of soft tissues in the rocks surrounding fossils, which in turn have helped them visualize the remains of pigments — almost literally bringing prehistoric colors back to life.

Many researchers are content to follow NASA's lead as it cautiously moves from «following the water» in search of likely habitable or once - habitable environments on Mars to «following the carbon» — that is, looking for chemical traces of ancient life.

However, many life - detecting experiments rely on picking up whiffs of gas or traces of chemicals rather than finding life itself.

Some experts have traced estrogen - like chemicals to increased rates of human breast cancer, and there is even more evidence that they endanger animals by feminizing the sex organs of male frogs and fish living downstream from sewage treatment plants.

The first indications of life outside our solar system won't be like a sci - fi film — they'll be chemical traces of the elements of life in the atmosphere of a far - away planet.

Despite comparatively intense bombardment by large impactors, chemical and radio - isotopic trace evidence of what appears to be biologically processed carbon in Earth's oldest surviving rocks — from western Greenland's Isua greenstone belt that are as old as 3.85 billion years — suggest that self - replicating, carbon - based microbial life became well developed during Earth's first billion years of existence.

Finally, ATLAST will have the potential to aide in the discovery of life in our galactic neighborhood, by detecting certain trace chemicals in the atmospheres of Earth - like planets.

2 By studying the record of Earth's history contained in sedimentary rocks from the time just prior to the rise of animals, between 1200 and 650 million years ago, reading these rocks for clues about changing environmental conditions by chemical analysis, and systematically scouring them for traces of life — from fossils as well as chemical signatures;

In the field of chemical oceanography it has been found impact the speciation of trace metals that are both critical for life at low levels and toxic at higher levels.

Iodine is an essential trace mineral needed for the body's production of thyroid hormones, which regulate metabolism — the chemical reactions that occur in every cell in the body and provide energy for life.