Interview with Dr. Alejandro Soto of SWRI — Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion May 26, 2020
By: James Maynard
Tags: Space, Biology, Science, Chemistry, Astronomy News

Interview with Dr. Alejandro Soto of SWRI — Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion May 26, 2020

In this week’s episode of Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we look at volcanoes of mud on Mars. We also see how life on Earth may have been shaped, at the genetic level, by cosmic rays from space. We explore collisions between black holes and ultra-dense neutron stars, and we take a look at the Wolfe Disc, an ancient galaxy that grew much faster than expected. Finally, we look at a pair of findings about galaxies, each from the same network of radio telescopes.

Plus, in a fun, informative interview, we talk to Dr. Alejandro Soto of the Southwest Research Institute, who recently released a study showing how microscopic lifeforms may be affected by salty deposits of water on Mars.

Watch the video version of this episode:

Listen to the podcast:

https://bit.ly/Cosmic-Companion-Alejandro-Soto-May-26-2020

This podcast is also available from all major podcast providers.

Long canyons that run along the surface of Mars present several mysteries to planetary scientists. Now, a team of researchers centered at Open University have simulated the behavior of mud slides in conditions similar to those found on Mars. They found certain features seen in the laboratory were similar to those found on Mars. This suggests these Martian features may be the result of volcanoes of mud running along the canyons.

The chiral nature of life — where biological processes prefer right- or left-handed molecules — may be the result of cosmic rays. Molecules come in different forms, some of which are mirror images of each other. Most chemical reactions treat these chiral molecules equally. However, biological reactions can be far different for each type of molecule. A new study suggests cosmic rays, bombarding Earth at the dawn of life may have altered ancient prebiotic molecules, shaping the nature of life forever.

Some of the most energetic collisions in the Cosmos — those between black holes and neutron stars — may be more common than believed, a new study finds. These events are thought to be more common in dense star clusters than in those regions of space where these objects are more sparsely-populated. Such collisions create ripples in the fabric of spacetime, which may be found while exploring gravity waves, the newest field of astronomy.

Astronomers believe that most large galaxies grow over time, slowly absorbing other, smaller families of stars. However, the discovery of a galaxy in the ancient Universe as large as the Milky Way calls this idea into question. The galaxy, known as the Wolfe Disk, was studied by astronomers using the ALMA network of radio telescopes. Astronomers believe this finding could suggest that galaxies grow far faster than previously believed.

In another discovery from the same observatory, ALMA data shows a twinkling of microwave radiation coming from near the core of our galaxy. Astronomers used the ALMA network to look toward the core of the Milky Way through a haze of gas and dust. They found a pair of signals of short-wavelength radio energy cycling over a one hour and half-hour-long periods. Astronomers suggest this could be caused by a pair of hot spots of gas and dust orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.