Just a reminder for holiday travel‚ try to find hotels that provide secure amenities such as a security parking lot. The piece of mind is worth it‚ as well as where the exit are in the amenities are. It reduces your risk to crime‚ getting lost‚ or an emergency. You know what the area looks like. #TheRoamingprepper‚ #Prepper #Christmas #Travel #Vacation #carjackings #Hotels‚ #TravelSafe #PersonalSafety #crime

All modern life shares a robust‚ hardy‚ efficient system of intertwined chemicals that propagate themselves. This system must have emerged from a simpler‚ less efficient‚ more delicate one. But what was that system‚ and why did it appear on‚ of all places‚ planet Earth? This is the central question of abiogenesis‚ the generation of life from not-life. We do not yet have an answer to that question‚ but we do have a collection of curious clues and brilliant hypotheses that might lead us in the right direction. First‚ the chemistry. All proteins on Earth are made from just 22 amino acids. Those amino acids require abundant amounts of organic molecules – the most basic building blocks of life. Astronomers have detected organic molecules‚ and even some amino acids‚ scattered throughout space‚ from the depths of interstellar gas clouds to the fragile meteoroids that wander the solar system. So it’s natural to assume that our planet‚ as it coalesced from the maelstrom that surrounded our infant Sun‚ was born with the right ingredients…but surely they couldn’t survive the initial formation of our planet‚ when it was still molten from the countless collisions that lead to its development. Instead‚ these organic compounds must have been delivered to us well after the planet cooled and solidified. Astronomers believe that the first few million years in the solar system was a quite unfriendly time. Even after the protoplanetary disk around the Sun evaporated and the eight major planets of the system emerged victorious over their rivals‚ fragments and debris still littered the orbital lanes. Impact after impact struck each of the planets‚ with new rounds triggered by gravitational rearrangements of the giant outer worlds as they settled into stable‚ permanent configurations. We still see the scars of that youthful violence today‚ visible on the sterile vacuum surfaces of the Moon and Mercury. But in that violence came a chance for life. Fresh water‚ delivered by countless cometary impacts‚ replenished what the Earth lost during its molten state. And with that water‚ organic compounds rained onto the surface. Here too we see yet another delicate balancing act. If the Earth had been struck too few times‚ we might not have been wealthy enough in molecular resources to begin the ascent to life. If too many had come‚ however‚ the persistent heat of the impacts would have boiled our oceans and sent any nascent life scattering into interplanetary space. We were lucky. Somewhere life gained a foothold. The earliest undisputed fossil evidence for life sets the clock as early as 3.5 billion years ago. More speculative evidence – again‚ this work becomes exceedingly difficult the farther back into the past we peer‚ because the earliest life was not much different than the non-living chemical reactions that preceded it‚ so it’s difficult to tell if some molecular imprint in a rock is the fossil of a living creature or merely some manifestation of exotic chemistry‚ and if there’s even a difference between them – suggests that life started as early as 4.5 billion years ago. That alone is surprising‚ given the hellish conditions our planet was experiencing at the time‚ with some scientists arguing that our world wasn’t even habitable until some 500 million years later. But somewhere‚ in some quiet place‚ the magic happened. A chance group of molecules and chemical reactions began storing information‚ began self-replicating‚ and began catalyzing reactions. Some biologists suspect that it was deep-sea hydrothermal vents‚ which spew organic-rich molecules into their surroundings. Or perhaps it was in tidal pools‚ which provided a natural rhythm that would turn into the cycles of life. Or maybe hot springs‚ or even underground. It may have happened more than once and in more than one way‚ but it appears from all available evidence that as soon as life could arise‚ it did arise. The post Early Life Was Radically Different Than Today appeared first on Universe Today.

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After Monday’s Supreme Court ruling vacating a lower court ruling that had allowed Texas to place razor wire along the U.S.-Mexico border without inference from the Biden Border Patrol‚ the flagship morning and evening newscasts on ABC and NBC had moved on from the border showdown‚ even as tensions rose with Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) remaining resolute in having Texas Department of Public Safety and National Guard defend the porous border. The CBS Evening News and ...

In response to a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire Texas laid along the border with Mexico‚ right-wing pundits are claiming the Biden administration has sparked a second American Civil War. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett‚ two members of the court’s conservative block‚ sided with the three liberal justices in ruling for the federal government. The issue stems from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to stretch razor...

Americans are having a harder time trusting anyone these days—including pastors. The country’s perception of clergy hit a new low in recent Gallup polling‚ with fewer than a third of Americans rating clergy as highly honest and ethical. People are more likely to believe in the moral standards held by nurses‚ police officers‚ and chiropractors than their religious leaders. Clergy are still more trusted than politicians‚ lawyers‚ and journalists. The continued drop in pastors’...

Father Thaddeus Wang Yuesheng was consecrated bishop of Zhengzhou‚ China‚ on Thursday‚ bringing an end to a 70-year-long sede vacante.  The Holy See Press Office announced on Thursday morning that Wang was appointed by Pope Francis as the bishop of Zhengzhou on Dec. 16‚ 2023. The report noted that the decision took place “in the framework of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China.”   The Vatican Fides News Agency‚ which is part of...