Galactic panspermia: How far could life spread naturally in a galaxy like the Milky Way?

by Evan Gough, Universe Today

Here it is, the simulated galaxy called g15784. Two spheroidal galaxies are seen in the

 image, one above the galactic plane and one below. Credit: Gobat et al 2021.

Can life spread throughout a galaxy like the Milky Way without technological intervention? That question is largely unanswered. A new study is taking a swing at that question by using a simulated galaxy that's similar to the Milky Way. Then they investigated that model to see how organic compounds might move between its star systems.

The central question in science is probably "How did life begin?" There's no larger question, and there's no answer, so far. A secondary question is more approachable: "Can life spread from star to star?" That's the theory of panspermia, in a nutshell.

Earth's history poses an important question when it comes to panspermia. Scientists think there wasn't enough time between when the Earth cooled enough to become habitable and the appearance of life. Not all scientists think that, of course. There's a range of thoughts on the matter. But the question remains: Was there enough time for DNA-based life to get going independently on Earth, or did panspermia play a role?

While much of the talk around panspermia concerns simple lifeforms somehow moving between stars, more serious talk concerns the movement of organic compounds necessary for life. Scientists have found some of those compounds on comets and elsewhere out in space. We now know they're not necessarily rare. So can those compounds move around from solar system to solar system?

The new study is titled "Panspermia in a Milky Way-like Galaxy." The lead author is Raphael Gobat, from Instituto de Física, Valparaíso, Chile. The paper is available on the pre-print site arxiv.org.

So is panspermia a thing? Inside a solar system like ours, it seems possible. Meteorites from Mars have landed on Earth, which is pretty solid evidence. If rocks can make the trip, why not chemicals in or on those rocks? Could spores make the interstellar trip between star systems?

The team of researchers set out to answer that question. They worked with a simulated galaxy from MUGS, the McMaster Unbiased Galaxy Simulations. MUGS is a set of 16 simulated galaxies created by researchers in the early 2000s. In 2016, Gobat et al added a modified galactic habitability model, called GH16.

Credit: Universe Today

Their chosen galaxy is g15784. It's a little more massive than the Milky Way and has a history of quiescent mergers. It hasn't merged with anything very massive in a long time, and it's orbited by several spherical galaxies.

The team computed a level of habitability for each star particle in the galaxy. In this case, that means the number of main sequence low-mass stars with terrestrial planets within their habitable zones. They followed GH16 to do that. GH16 takes into account stellar metallicity, minimum and maximum mass, formation history, and the inner and outer ranges of its habitability zone (HZ.)

They also considered the effect of supernovae explosions on habitability. The galactic core is the most densely populated part of the galaxy. So even though there are more potentially habitable planets there, there are also more deadly supernovae. The higher density of stars in the core means each habitable planet has a higher chance of being rendered uninhabitable by a supernova. The higher metallicity in the core also reduces habitability, according to the authors. That makes the central region a tough place for panspermia.

The group also looked at the spiral arms of g15784. While star density is also high there, and so are supernova rates (SNR), they didn't affect habitability the same as in the bulge. They also looked at the galactic disk and halo.

The study shows that panspermia is at least possible, though there's no simple answer to the question. They found that while median habitability increases with galactocentric radius, while the probability for panspermia is inverse. That's because of the higher star density in the galactic bulge.

But panspermia probability is low in the central disk. That's because of higher supernova rates and a lower escape fraction due to higher metallicity. Natural habitability doesn't vary much throughout the galaxy, whereas panspermia probability varies widely, by several orders of magnitude.

The team found no correlation between the probability of panspermia and the habitability of the receiving particle. (In this study, particle refers to a high number of stars, due to the simulation's low resolution.)

A three-panel figure from the paper showing a projected column at z = 0 and in a

 1 kpc-wide slice passing through the center of g15784. The top shows the median value

 for natural habitability, the middle shows the fraction of possible cradles in the simulated galaxy, and the bottom shows the fraction of possible colonization targets. The magenta star shows where the sun would be if this were the Milky Way. Image Credit: Gobat et al 2021.

Lastly, they found that panspermia is less effective than in-situ prebiotic evolution, although they say that they can't quantify that precisely.

In their conclusion, the authors point out several caveats for the work. "… first, it includes several factors that we have regarded as unknown constants (e.g., the capture fraction of spores by target planets, the relation between habitability and the presence of life, the typical speed of interstellar objects, and the absolute value of escape fraction of the interstellar organic compounds from source planets)." As a result, they consider their results to be "… naturally more qualitative than quantitative."

They also caution that while a real galaxy like the Milky way is dynamic and changing, their simulated galaxy is just a snapshot. "As such, these results only apply if the typical timescale for panspermia is much shorter than the dynamical timescale of a galaxy."

There are other differences between the simulated galaxy and the Milky Way. "For example, our mock galaxy has a larger value of bulge-to-disk light ratio than the actual Milky Way, and the galactic bulge has been suggested to be well-suited for panspermia." Finally, they point out that MUGS is a low-resolution simulation, and a higher-resolution simulation could produce some differences in the results.

We've recently been visited by two interstellar objects: "Oumuamua and comet 2L/Borisov. So we know that objects are traveling between star systems. There've probably been many more interstellar visitors that we weren't technologically capable of seeing. And we know that organic building blocks are present out in space.

That doesn't prove that organic building blocks can travel between stars, but it seems possible. Thanks to this research, we might know a little more about how likely it is, and where in a galaxy it might take place.Cold planets exist throughout the galaxy, even in the galactic bulge

More information: Raphael Gobat et al, Panspermia in a Milky Way-like Galaxy. arXiv:2109.08926v1 [astro-ph.GA], arxiv.org/abs/2109.08926

Source Universe Today 

SCIENTISTS: BACTERIA COULD SURVIVE TRIP TO MARS ON OUTSIDE OF SPACECRAFT

GERALT VIA PIXABAY/FUTURISM
A DAY AGO__JON CHRISTIAN__FILED UNDER: OFF WORLD

The Hitcher

Researchers in Japan say that a sample of bacteria managed to survive in the vacuum of space, on the exterior of the International Space Station, for three entire years — raising the possibility that errant organisms could unknowing hitch a ride to Mars on an exploration mission.

“The results suggest that [bacteria] could survive during the travel from Earth to Mars and vice versa, which is several months or years in the shortest orbit,” said Akihiko Yamagishi, a professor of molecular biology at Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences who worked on the research, in a press release about the research.
Mars Tho

According to a new paper about the research published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, the bacteria in question is called Deinococcus, which tends to form small colonies and is resistant to ultraviolet radiation.


Yamagishi has previously investigated the hearty Deinococcus’ ability to survive miles above the Earth’s surface using balloons and aircraft.
Panspermia

Yamagishi’s research was motivated by the theory of panspermia, which posits that life is capable of spreading through space, perhaps by hitching a ride on meteorites.

“The origin of life on Earth is the biggest mystery of human beings,” Yamagashi said. “Scientists can have totally different points of view on the matter. Some think that life is very rare and happened only once in the Universe, while others think that life can happen on every suitable planet. If panspermia is possible, life must exist much more often than we previously thought.”


READ MORE: Bacteria could survive travel between Earth and Mars when forming aggregates [EurekAlert]

More on panspermia: New Evidence That Life on Earth Could Have Come From Outer Space


Could life have started on Mars before coming to Earth? Possibly, new study suggests

Japanese study tackles hypothesis of panspermia, where life could travel between planets

Nicole Mortillaro · CBC News · Posted: Aug 26, 2020

New research suggests that bacteria could survive in space and could have even come from Mars to Earth. (NASA/GSFC)
How life arose on Earth remains a mystery, though many theories have been proposed. Now a new study by Japanese scientists has reinvigorated the discussion around panspermia: The idea that life may have reached Earth from Mars.

The panspermia hypothesis suggests life may have arisen on another planet, with bacteria travelling through space, hitching a ride on a piece of rock or other means, eventually making its long-distance journey to Earth. Mars is a particularly appealing source, as studies suggest it was once potentially habitable with a large hemispheric ocean.

However, the biggest challenge has been determining if bacteria could survive the harsh interplanetary — or even intragalactic — journey.

To answer that question, a group of Japanese scientists, in participation with the Japanese space agency, JAXA, conducted an experiment on the International Space Station.

In the new study, published Wednesday in the journal Frontiers of Microbiology, researchers found, with some shielding, some bacteria could survive harsh ultraviolet radiation in space for up to 10 years.
Protective shield

For their experiment, the team used Deinococcal bacteria, well-known for tolerating large amounts of radiation. They placed dried aggregates (think of them as a collection of bacteria) varying in thickness (in the sub-millimetre range) in exposure panels outside the space station for one, two and three years beginning in 2015.

Early results in 2017 suggested the top layer of aggregates died but ultimately provided a kind of protective shield for the underlying bacteria that continued to live. Still, it was unclear whether that sub-layer would survive beyond one year.


NASA launches mission to Mars
28 days ago

NASA launched its next-generation Mars rover, Perseverance, which will endeavour to collect samples of Martian soil and rocks during a months-long mission. They will be the first material brought back to earth from another planet and could provide evidence about the possibility of life on Mars. 1:53

The new three-year experiment found they could. Aggregates larger than 0.5 mm all survived below the top layer.

Researchers hypothesized that a colony larger than one millimetre could survive up to eight years in space. If the colony was further shielded by a rock — perhaps ejected after something slammed into a planet such as Mars — its lifespan could extend up to 10 years.

Akihiko Yamagishi, a professor at Tokyo University in the department of pharmacy and life sciences who was principal investigator of the Tanpopo mission designed to test the durability of microorganisms on the ISS, said one of the important findings is that microbes could indeed survive the voyage from Mars to Earth.

"It increases the probability of the process, [making it] much higher," Yamagishi said in an interview.

Once life took hold in Earth's oceans, it thrived. (Great Barrier Reef National Park Authority/Reuters)

"Some think that life is very rare and happened only once in the universe, while others think that life can happen on every suitable planet. If panspermia is possible, life must exist much more often than we previously thought."

There are two important factors, he believes: Mars and Earth come relatively close together in their orbits every two years, which would allow time for transfer of bacteria; and the RNA World theory.

The theory hypothesizes that Earth was once composed of self-replicating ribonucleic acids (RNA) before deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and other proteins took hold. Yamagishi believes that RNA could have once existed on Mars before conditions for life arose on Earth and potentially travelled towards Earth bringing along RNA which began to seed our planet.
Not 'ironclad proof'

This isn't the first experiment to see whether bacteria could survive in space.

In past experiments, where microbes were mixed with clay, sugar or other elements, the bacteria died. However, this is the most promising finding to date supporting the panspermia hypothesis.

While some research suggests bacteria could survive a trip embedded in rock, this is the first of its kind to suggest they could survive without that kind of aid, what the researchers term "massapanspermia."

However, it's not an open and shut case.

"Actually proving that it could happen is another thing, so I wouldn't say that this is ironclad proof," said Mike Reid, a professor at the University of Toronto's Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics who wasn't involved in the Japanese study. "It's certainly leading in that direction."

Surface of Mars shows scars of glaciers just like Canada's High Arctic: study
It's Alive! Algae Survive 16 Months Exposure To Space

Does Reid believe life could have made its way from Mars to Earth?

"If you'd asked me 20 years ago, I would have said no, of course not. But now, it's a little hard to say," he said. "I think we won't be able to answer that question until we've had a really thorough look at the surface of Mars ... did it ever have life ... and was it like us?"

The answer to that question could come in the form of NASA's Perseverance mission to Mars that launched on July 30. One of the main goals of the state-of-the-art rover is to look for past signs of life on the red planet, taking samples to be returned to Earth at a later date.

While promising, the Japanese research team acknowledged that, while their research strengthens the case for panspermia, other factors need to be considered, such as whether bacteria could survive the descent through Earth's atmosphere.

The Implications Of ‘Oumuamua On Panspermia

Status Report
astro-ph.EP
January 5, 2024

‘Oumuamua — NASA

Panspermia is the hypothesis that life originated on Earth from the bombardment of foreign interstellar ejecta harboring polyextremophile microorganisms.

Since the 2017 discovery of the comet-like body ‘Oumuamua (1I/2017 U1) by the Pans-STARRS telescope, various studies have re-examined panspermia based on updated number density models that accommodate for ‘Oumuamua’s properties.

By utilizing ‘Oumuamua’s properties as an anchor, we estimate the mass and number density of ejecta in the ISM (rho_m [kg au^-3] and rho_n [au^-3]).

We build upon prior work by first accounting for the minimum ejecta size to shield microbes from supernova radiation. Second, we estimate the total number of impact events C_n on Earth after its formation and prior to the emergence of life (~0.8Gyr).

We derive a conditional probability relation for the likelihood of panspermia for Earth specifically of <10^-5, given a number of factors including f_B, the fraction of ejecta harboring extremophiles and other factors that are poorly constrained.

However, we find that panspermia is a plausible potential life-seeding mechanism for (optimistically) up to ~10^5 of the ~10^9 Earth-sized habitable zone worlds in our Galaxy.

David Cao, Peter Plavchan, Michael Summers

Comments: submitted to AAS journals, feedback welcome, 12 pages, 3 figures
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Cite as: arXiv:2401.02390 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2401.02390v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2401.02390
Focus to learn more
Submission history
From: David Cao
[v1] Thu, 4 Jan 2024 18:06:24 UTC (303 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.02390
Astrobiology,

THAT WOULD BE THE DISCOVERY OF LIFE 

Alien organisms could hitch a ride on our spacecraft and contaminate Earth, scientists warn

The risk of invading alien organisms is low, but we're increasing the chances.

A concept image of alien organisms above Mars.

 (Image credit: Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library via Getty Images)

The growing demand for space exploration is increasing the chances of alien organisms invading Earth and of Earth-based organisms invading other planets, scientists have argued in a new paper.

The researchers point to humanity's record of moving species to new environments on Earth, where those organisms can become invasive and harm the native species; they say such behavior suggests the same could happen with alien life from another planet contaminating Earth and vice versa, according to the paper, published Nov. 17 in the journal BioScience.

"The search of life beyond our world is an exciting endeavour that could yield an enormous discovery in the not-too-distant future," lead author Anthony Ricciardi, a professor of invasion biology at McGill University in Montreal, told Live Science in an email. "However, in the face of increasing space missions (including those intended to return samples to Earth), it is crucial to reduce the risks of biological contamination in both directions."

Ricciardi and his colleagues use the paper to call for more collaborative studies between astrobiologists searching for extraterrestrial life and invasion biologists studying invasive species on Earth. "We can only speculate on what kinds of organisms might be encountered if astrobiologists were to find life," Ricciardi said. "The most plausible life-forms would be microbial and probably resemble bacteria."

The scientists consider the risk of interplanetary contamination to be extremely low, partly because the harsh conditions of outer space make it difficult for potential hitchhiking organisms to survive a ride on the outside of a human spacecraft. However, we should still be cautious of interplanetary contamination based on the negative impacts that invasive species have had on Earth, according to Ricciardi.

Humans have damaged ecosystems around the world by allowing organisms to invade new environments they'd never reach naturally. For example, a fungus from South America called Austropuccinia psidii was introduced to Australia in unknown circumstances and is taking over the country's native eucalyptus trees, stunting their growth and sometimes killing them.

The researchers noted that insular ecosystems that evolve in geographical isolation, such as on islands and in countries like Australia, are particularly vulnerable to invasive species, because the native wildlife in those places hasn't evolved adaptations to deal with such invaders. "Biological invasions have often been devastating for the plants and animals in these systems," Ricciardi said. "We argue that planets and moons potentially containing life should be treated as if they were insular systems."

For evidence of interplanetary contamination, the researchers cited the Israeli Beresheet spacecraft that crashed into the moon in 2019 while carrying thousands of tardigrades, microscopic animals that can survive extreme conditions, including the vacuum of space, Live Science previously reported. A 2021 study published in the journal Astrobiology concluded that the creatures probably wouldn't have survived the impact of the lunar crash but that the incident demonstrates the potential for biological spills.

Space agencies such as NASA have long been aware of the potential risks of biological contamination, and planetary protection policies have been in place since the 1960s, according to Ricciardi. "However, unprecedented risks are posed by a new era of space exploration aimed at targeting areas most likely to contain life," Ricciardi said. This includes the rise in private space exploration companies such as SpaceX that are making space more accessible, according to the paper. SpaceX, for example, aims to travel to Mars and beyond with its SpaceX Starship program.

The researchers suggest increasing biosecurity protocols associated with space travel, focusing on the early detection of potential biological contaminants and developing plans for a rapid response to any such detections.

Planets and moons have always exchanged material via meteorites, but human space exploration could accelerate contamination, said Jennifer Wadsworth, an astrobiologist at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland who was not involved in the paper.

The new paper is an "excellent overview" of the current and continuous need for strict and up-to-date planetary protection rules, Wadsworth said. One major issue is that current planetary protection guidelines are not mandatory, Wadsworth told Live Science.

"The line between exploration and conservation is a thin one," Wadsworth said. "One shouldn't be abandoned at the cost of the other, but both require careful consideration and, most importantly, compliance."

By Patrick Pester 
Originally published on Live Science.

1. PANSPERMIA THEORY origin of life on Earth directed ...
   https://www.panspermia-theory.com

   Panspermia is a Greek word that translates literally as "seeds everywhere". The panspermia hypothesis states that the "seeds" of life exist all over the Universe and can be propagated through space from one location to another. Some believe that life on Earth may have originated through these "seeds".

   • Extremophiles · Videos · Lithopanspermia · Ballistic Panspermia · 

Bacteria Could Survive Travel Between Earth And Mars When Forming Aggregates
Press Release - Source: Frontiers in Microbiology
Posted August 26, 2020 11:33 PM

The bacterial exposure experiment took place from 2015 to 2018 using the Exposed Facility located on the exterior of Kibo, the Japanese Experimental Module of the International Space Station. CREDIT JAXA/NASA

Imagine microscopic life-forms, such as bacteria, transported through space, and landing on another planet. The bacteria finding suitable conditions for its survival could then start multiplying again, sparking life at the other side of the universe.

This theory, called "panspermia", support the possibility that microbes may migrate between planets and distribute life in the universe. Long controversial, this theory implies that bacteria would survive the long journey in outer space, resisting to space vacuum, temperature fluctuations, and space radiations.

"The origin of life on Earth is the biggest mystery of human beings. Scientists can have totally different points of view on the matter. Some think that life is very rare and happened only once in the Universe, while others think that life can happen on every suitable planet. If panspermia is possible, life must exist much more often than we previously thought," says Dr. Akihiko Yamagishi, a Professor at Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences and principal investigator of the space mission Tanpopo.

In 2018, Dr. Yamagishi and his team tested the presence of microbes in the atmosphere. Using an aircraft and scientific balloons, the researchers, found Deinococcal bacteria floating 12 km above the earth. But while Deinococcus are known to form large colonies (easily larger than one millimeter) and be resistant to environmental hazards like UV radiation, could they resist long enough in space to support the possibility of panspermia?

To answer this question, Dr. Yamagishi and the Tanpopo team, tested the survival of the radioresistant bacteria Deinococcus in space. The study, now published in Frontiers in Microbiology, shows that thick aggregates can provide sufficient protection for the survival of bacteria during several years in the harsh space environment.

Dr. Yamagishi and his team came to this conclusion by placing dried Deinococcus aggregates in exposure panels outside of the International Space Station (ISS). The samples of different thicknesses were exposed to space environment for one, two, or three years and then tested for their survival.

After three years, the researchers found that all aggregates superior to 0.5 mm partially survived to space conditions. Observations suggest that while the bacteria at the surface of the aggregate died, it created a protective layer for the bacteria beneath ensuring the survival of the colony. Using the survival data at one, two, and three years of exposure, the researchers estimated that a pellet thicker than 0.5 mm would have survived between 15 and 45 years on the ISS. The design of the experiment allowed the researcher to extrapolate and predict that a colony of 1 mm of diameter could potentially survive up to 8 years in outer space conditions.

"The results suggest that radioresistant Deinococcus could survive during the travel from Earth to Mars and vice versa, which is several months or years in the shortest orbit," says Dr. Yamagishi.

This work provides, to date, the best estimate of bacterial survival in space. And, while previous experiments prove that bacteria could survive in space for a long period when benefitting from the shielding of rock (i.e. lithopanspermia), this is the first long-term space study raising the possibility that bacteria could survive in space in the form of aggregates, raising the new concept of "massapanspermia". Yet, while we are one step closer to prove panspermia possible, the microbe transfer also depends on other processes such as ejection and landing, during which the survival of bacteria still needs to be assessed.

DNA Damage and Survival Time Course of Deinococcal Cell Pellets During 3 Years of Exposure to Outer Space, Frontiers in Microbiology

Some scientists believe life may have started on Mars -- here's why
Nicole Karlis, Salon
February 07, 2021

The presence of methane has long been a point of contention among Mars experts

 EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY/AFP/File / HO

On February 18, NASA's Perseverance rover will parachute through thin Martian air, marking a new era in red planet exploration. Landing on the Jezero Crater, which is located north of the Martian equator, will be no easy feat. Only about 40 percent of the missions ever sent to Mars succeed, according to NASA. If it does, Perseverance could drastically change the way we think about extraterrestrial life. That's because scientists believe Jezero, a 28 mile-wide impact crater that used to be a lake, is an ideal place to look for evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars.

Once it lands, Perseverance will collect and store Martian rock and soil samples, which will eventually be returned to Earth. This is known as a "sample-return mission," an extremely rare type of space exploration mission due to its expense. (Indeed, there has never been a sample return mission from another planet.) And once Martian soil is returned to Earth in a decade, scientists will set about studying the material to figure out if there was ever ancient life on Mars.

Yet some scientists believe that these samples could answer an even bigger question: Did life on Earth originate on Mars?

Though the idea that life started on Mars before migrating on Earth sounds like some far-fetched sci-fi premise, many renowned scientists take the theory seriously. The general idea of life starting elsewhere in space before migrating here has a name, too: Panspermia. It's the hypothesis that life exists elsewhere in the universe, and is distributed by asteroids and other space debris.

To be clear, the notion of life on Earth originating on Mars isn't a dominant theory in the scientific community, but it does appear to be catching on. And scientists like Gary Ruvkun, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, say that it does sound "obvious, in a way."

The evidence starts with how space debris moved around in the young solar system. Indeed, we have evidence of an exchange of rocks from Mars to Earth. Martian meteorites have been found in Antarctica and across the world — an estimated 159, according to the International Meteorite Collectors Association.

"You can assign them to Mars based on the gaseous inclusions that they have, that are sort of the equivalent of the gases that were shown by the Viking spacecraft" to exist in Mars' atmosphere, Ruvkun said. In other words, small bubbles of air in these rocks reveal that they were forged in the Martian air. "So, there is exchange between Mars and Earth — probably more often going from Mars to Earth because it goes 'downhill,' going to Mars is 'uphill,' gravitationally-speaking."

But for Ruvkun, whose area of expertise is genomics, it's the timing of cellular life that he believes makes a strong case that life on Earth came from somewhere else — perhaps Mars, or perhaps Mars vis-a-vis another planet.

Ruvkun noted that our genomes reveal the history of life, and provide clues about the ancestors that preceded us by millions or even billions of years. "In our genomes, you can kind of see the history, right?" he said. "There's the RNA world that predated the DNA world and it's very well supported by all kinds of current biology; so, we know the steps that evolution took in order to get to where we are now."

Thanks to the advancement of genomics, the understanding of LUCA (the Last Universal Common Ancestor) — meaning the organism from which all life on Earth evolved from — has greatly advanced. By studying the genetics of all organisms on Earth, scientists have a very good sense of what the single-celled ancestor of every living thing (on Earth) looked like. They also know the timeline: all modern life forms descend from a single-celled organism that lived about 3.9 billion years ago, only 200 million years after the first appearance of liquid water. In the grand scheme of the universe, that's not that long.

And the last universal common ancestor was fairly complicated as far as organisms go. That leaves two possibilities, Ruvkun says. "Either evolution to full-on modern genomes is really easy, or the reason you see it so fast was that we just 'caught' life, it didn't actually start here." He adds, "I like the idea that we just caught it and that's why it's so fast, but I'm an outlier."

If that's the case, then Erik Asphaug, is a professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona, is also an outlier. Asphaug said that what we know about the oldest rocks on Earth — which have chemical evidence of carbon isotopes, tracing back to nearly 4 billion years ago — tell us that life started "started forming on Earth almost as soon as it was possible for it to happen."

If that's the case, it makes for an interesting precedent. "Let's say you expect life to be flourishing whenever a planet cools down to the point where it can start to have liquid water," Asphaug said. "But just looking at our own solar system, what planet was likely to be habitable first? Almost certainly Mars."

This is because, Asphaug said, Mars formed before Earth did. Early in Martian history when Mars was cooling down, Mars would have had a "hospitable" environment before Earth.

"If life was going to start anywhere it might start first on Mars," Asphaug said. "We don't know what the requirement is — you know, if it required something super special like the existence of a moon or some factors that are unique to the Earth — but just in terms of what place had liquid water first, that would have been Mars."

An intriguing and convincing piece of evidence relates to how material moved between the two neighboring planets. Indeed, the further you go back in time, the bigger the collisions of rocks between Mars and Earth, Asphaug said. These impact events could have been huge "mountain-sized blocks of Mars" that were launched into space. Such massive asteroids could serve as a home for a hardy microorganism.

"When you collide back into a planet, some fraction of that mountain-sized mass is going to survive as debris on the surface," he said. "It's taken a while for modeling to show that you can have a relatively intact survival of what we call 'ballistic panspermia' — firing a bullet into one planet, knocking bits off, and having it end up on another planet. But it's feasible, we think it happens, and the trajectory would tend to go from Mars to the Earth, much more likely than from Earth to Mars."

Asphaug added that surviving the trip, given the mass of the vehicle for the microorganisms, wouldn't be a problem — and neither would surviving on a new, hospitable planet.

"Any early life form would be resistant to what's going on at the tail end of planet formation," he said. "Any organism that's going to be existing has to be used to the horrific bombardment of impacts, even apart from this, swapping from planet to planet."

In other words, early microbial life would have been fine with harsh environments and long periods of dormancy.

Harvard professor Avi Loeb told Salon via email that one of the Martian rocks found on Earth, ALH 84001, "was not heated along its journey to more than 40 degrees Celsius and could have carried life."

All three scientists believe that Perseverance might be able to add credibility to the theory of panspermia.

"If you were to go and find remnants of life on Mars, which we hope to do with Perseverance rover and these other Martian adventures, I would be personally surprised if they were not connected at the hip to terrestrial life," Asphaug said.

Ruvkun said he hopes to be one of the scientists to look for DNA when the sample from Mars hopefully, eventually, returns.

"Launching something from Mars is a seriously difficult thing," he said.

But what would this mean for human beings, and our existential understanding of who we are and where we came from?

"In that case, we might all be Martians," Loeb said. He joked that the self-help book "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" may have been more right than we know.

Or perhaps, as Ruvkun believes, we're from a different solar system, and life is just scattering across the universe.

"To me the idea that it all started on Earth, and every single solar system has their own little evolution of life happening, and they're all independent — it just seems kind of dumb," Ruvkun said. "It's so much more explanatory to say 'no, it's spreading, it's spreading all across the universe, and we caught it too, it didn't start here," he added. "And in this moment during the pandemic — what a great moment to pitch the idea. Maybe people will finally believe it."

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PANSPERMIA (plawiuk.blogspot.com)

‘We are not alone’: Confirmation of alien life ‘imminent and inevitable’

Scientists are on the verge of confirming we are not alone in the universe, with two probes being sent to a mystery moon near Earth.

Jamie Seidel news.com.au JANUARY 12, 2020

NASA's under-ice robot may be used in a future space mission to look for signs of extraterrestrial life.

In just a few short years, we may know if we’re not alone.

Two probes are being sent to a mysterious moon bursting with the ingredients of life. And expectations are high we’ll find it.

Once it was thought life could not exist without the sun’s warming rays.

We were wrong.

The equation for life (as we know it) is surprisingly simple: soluble water, an energy source, and organic compounds.

Jupiter’s moon Europa appears to have all three.

That’s why we’re going there.


In August, NASA confirmed it would build a space probe – the Europa Clipper – to investigate this glistening gem of a world early in the 2030s. It followed the announcement in April by the European Space Agency to put the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) in place by 2029.

It’s a gamble.

But the odds of finding life is surprisingly high.

“Discovery now seems inevitable and possibly imminent,” says University of Melbourne researcher Cathal O’COnnell.

And finding living creatures – even microbes – outside Earth may have huge social, religious and scientific implications.

Perhaps it is time to prepare.

It may not be far off at all.

“It seems inevitable other life is out there, especially considering that life appeared on Earth so soon after the planet was formed,” O’Connell says. “And the definition of ‘habitable’ has proven to be a rather flexible concept too.”

SECOND GENESIS

“A discovery, if it came, could turn the world of biology upside down,” O’Connell says.

“Bacteria, fungus, cacti and cockroaches are all our cousins and we all share the same basic molecular machinery: DNA that makes RNA, and RNA that makes protein.

“A second sample of life, though, might represent a ‘second genesis’ – totally unrelated to us.”

Biologists would be able to examine what parts of the machinery of life are fundamental. And they’d discover how much is the result of evolutionary accidents.


The JUICE probe launching to investigate Europa's mysterious surface. Picture: ESASource:Supplied

“A second independent ‘tree of life’ would mean that the rapid appearance of life on Earth was no fluke; life must abound in the universe.

“It would greatly increase the chances that, somewhere among those billions of habitable planets in our galaxy, there could be something we could talk to.”

In some ways, however, discovering similarities would be even more radical.

It would mean the idea of panspermia – that formulas for life are seeded between worlds and even stars through comets and meteorites – has merit.

“As Mars was probably habitable before Earth, it is possible life originated there before hitchhiking on a space rock to here. Perhaps we’re all Martians.”

Either way, Europa will hold the key.

“The ancient question ‘Are we alone?’ has graduated from being a philosophical musing to a testable hypothesis. We should be prepared for an answer.”


The bright material is likely pure water ice, where life is highly likely to reside. Picture: NASA/JPL/DLR Source:Supplied

SALT OF THE EARTH
Jupiter’s frozen moon Europa is a jewel of our solar system.

It’s shiny and bright. That’s because it’s encased in a shell of water ice.

But when the Voyager 1 space probe flashed past in 1979, Europa’s beauty proved more than skin deeper. It had shapely canyons, troughs and ridges. And there were very, very few craters.

Did this mean liquid water regularly welled up from beneath, remoulding and refreshing the surface?


Irregularities in Europa's surface suggest the discovery of life could be 'imminent'. Picture: Supplied Source:Supplied

It wasn’t until the 1990s that the full extent of Europa’s enigma was revealed. The Galileo probe found strong evidence there were oceans twice as big as Earth’s beneath the ice. And that water seemed salty.

What’s so significant about salt water?

It’s a sure sign of active geological processes. The water must be interacting with rocks. It’s leeching nutrients and minerals out of the moon’s solid core.

“It may well be normal table salt (sodium chloride) – just like on Earth, says Lancaster University researcher Chris Arridge.

“This has important implications for the potential existence of life in Europa’s hidden depths.”

In fact, it makes Europa a potential microbial Garden of Eden.

FIRE BENEATH THE ICE

We have some idea what to expect.

Europa’s slightly off-kilter orbit causes Jupiter’s gravity to fluctuate. The moon’s core is constantly being squeezed and released, generating friction – and a molten core.

We’ve seen how hydrothermal vents enrich the depths of our own planet’s deepest, darkest seas. They support thriving communities of microbes converting the mineral-laden fluids into energy.

And the ingredients for life aren’t exactly rare.

“Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and so on are among the most abundant elements in the universe,” Arridge says. “Complex organic chemistry is surprisingly common.”

Unexpectedly common, in fact.


This composite image of the Jupiter-facing hemisphere of Europa was obtained on Nov. 25, 1999 by two instruments on-board NASA's Galileo spacecraft. Picture: NASA/JPL Source:Supplied

This shouldn’t be surprising: Some 6500 light years away is a massive floating cloud of alcohol.

That’s a bit further than the average drive-through. But, interstellar comets such as 2I/Borisov and Oumuamua may have done something just like that.

Does Europa have enough? Or the right mix?

That’s what the Clipper and JUICE are being sent to find out.

And the odds are good.

In 2017, sea ice researchers from the University of Tasmania calculated that some microbes they had found in the Antarctic already had what it takes to thrive in Europa’s oceans.

So why wouldn’t something evolve there also?

SPIES IN THE SKY

Both the Europa Clipper and JUICE probes will carry a variety of sensors to peer beneath the ice.

They will measure the minute fluctuations in the moon’s gravity. These are caused by changes in the density of whatever is beneath – such as a mountain range, or a mineral deposit.

Both also carry ground-penetrating radars.

These are expected to be highly effective: the colder ice gets, the more transparent to radar it becomes.

Europa’s surface at the height of day is a frosty -170C.

Planetary scientists expect the ice to be somewhere between 15 and 25km thick. But it may be much thinner in some places.

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured fuzzy indications of plumes of water may be erupting from Europa’s South Pole. The evidence isn’t as strong as that for another ice moon, Saturn’s Enceladus. But it’s promising.

If so, deep fractures must be obvious in the icy crust – pointing to shallow lakes of liquid water.

This is a core component of the space probes’ mission: to scout the ideal location for a potential lander mission. It would have to drill through the surface to see what lurks beneath.

DEEP DIVE

The Europa Clipper and JUICE probes are well suited to finding the telltale traces of life. But they can’t get up close and personal.

Planetary scientists around the world have been advocating for decades that a second mission must be prepared.

One that will touch down on Europa’s icy surface. And dig deeper.

It’s no easy task.

Europa has only a thin atmosphere. So parachutes won’t work. Any lander must use heavy rocket motors to land. There’s also the intense, relentless radiation from nearby Jupiter.

All this must be overcome before the granite-hard ice can be tackled.

Drills won’t cut it.

So scientists are exploring the potential of lasers – or even an unshielded nuclear reactor – to melt its way through.

“One way or another, we will get there,” says University of Birmingham space sciences researcher Gareth Dorrian.

“The final challenge might then be ensuring that the spacecraft or submarine, having finally reached the ocean, doesn’t get eaten by something swimming around in the deep!”

Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @JamieSeidel

#PANSPERMIA 

Water and organic materials found on the surface of an ASTEROID

Ryan Morrison For Mailonline 3/4/2021

© Provided by Daily Mail

The materials essential for life on Earth including organic matter and water have been discovered on the surface of an asteroid for the first time, a study shows.

Planetary scientists from Royal Holloway University of London examined a single grain of dust returned to Earth from asteroid Itokawa by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as part of its first Hayabusa mission in 2010.

The water and organic matter originated on the asteroid itself, rather than arriving as part of a collision, suggesting it evolved chemically over billions of years.

It is the first time such material has been found on the surface of an asteroid, according to the British team behind the new study.

This is a major discovery that could 're-write the history of life on our planet,' scientists claim, as it is so similar to the evolution pathway on the early Earth.

'Although the organic matter is not directly suggesting life is carried on the asteroid, it tells us the asteroid carries the same raw materials that provided initial feedstock for the origin of life on Earth,' lead author Dr Queenie Chan told MailOnline

© Provided by Daily Mail Planetary scientists from Royal Holloway University of London examined a single grain of dust returned to Earth from asteroid Itokawa by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as part of its first Hayabusa mission in 2010

© Provided by Daily Mail The water and organic matter originated on the asteroid itself, rather than arriving as part of a collision, suggesting it evolved chemically over billions of years

ITOKAWA: A NEAR EARTH ASTEROID VISITED BY JAXA

The 'near-Earth' asteroid Itokawa is about 330 metres in diameter and shaped roughly like a peanut.

It orbits between 0.9 AU and 1.7 AU - with 1 AU the distance between the Earth and the sun.

It was the first asteroid to be the target of a sample return mission - that is a spaceflight to take bits of rock and bring them back to Earth.

In 2005 the Japanese Hayabusa probe collected dust particles from the asteroid and returned them to Earth.

It has been extensively studied and findings have shown evidence of water and organic material 'native' to the asteroid itself.

The asteroid has been slowly incorporating the liquid and organic materials in much the same way the Earth does, according to the researchers.

Itokawa has been constantly evolving over billions of years by incorporating water and organic materials from foreign extra-terrestrial material, just like the Earth.

In the past, the asteroid will have gone through extreme heating, dehydration and shattering due to catastrophic impact, the study authors explained.

However, despite this, the asteroid came back together from the shattered fragments and rehydrated itself with water that was delivered via the in fall of dust or carbon-rich meteorites.

This study shows that S-type asteroids, where most of Earth's meteorites come from, such as Itokawa, contain the raw ingredients of life.

'S-type asteroids – the 'stony' type asteroids – might not contain as high abundance of carbon rich material as the carbonaceous asteroids, however, their chemistry and water content evolved in a similar way to our prebiotic Earth,' Chan told MailOnline.

'If other systems elsewhere in the wider universe had the same favourable conditions like the early Earth, these raw ingredients that carried by these asteroids could have kick-started life elsewhere.'

The analysis of this asteroid changes traditional views on the origin of life on Earth which have previously heavily focussed on C-type carbon-rich asteroids.

Dr Chan said this shows the value of bringing samples of space rock back to Earth.

'After being studied in great detail by an international team of researchers, our analysis of a single grain, nicknamed 'Amazon', has preserved both primitive (unheated) and processed (heated) organic matter,' she said.

'The organic matter that has been heated indicates that the asteroid had been heated to over 600°C in the past.

'The presence of unheated organic matter very close to it, means that the in fall of primitive organics arrived on the surface of Itokawa after the asteroid had cooled.'

Dr Chan, said studying the 'Amazon' sample allowed them to better understand how the asteroid constantly evolved by adding new water and organic compounds.

'These findings are really exciting as they reveal complex details of an asteroid's history and how its evolution pathway is so similar to that of the prebiotic Earth.'

© Provided by Daily Mail It is the first time such material has been found on the surface of an asteroid, according to the British team behind the new study

© Provided by Daily Mail This is a major discovery that could 're-write the history of life on our planet,' scientists claim, as it is so similar to the evolution pathway on the early Earth

DIFFERENT TYPES OF ASTEROIDS FROM THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Asteroid classification has proved controversial, with a number of letter-based systems developed.

According to NASA the three main types are labelled C, S and M.

C-type (chondrite) asteroids are the most common in the solar system and likely consist of clay and silicate rocks.

They are darker than other asteroids and the most ancient objects in the solar system - dating back to its birth.

S-type (stony) asteroids are made of silicate materials as well as nickel-iron and are the most common visitors to the Earth of the asteroid types.

M-type (nickel-iron) asteroids vary depending on how far from the sun they formed.

Some are partly melted with iron sinking to the centre and forcing volcanic lava to the surface.

Chan said the findings were both surprising and not particularly surprising at the same time - in part due to observations from 2005 of Itokawa.

Surprising because S-type asteroids generally contain very few water and organic material chemicals, she explained to MailOnline.

'In a mission like Hayabusa, which picked samples up from the asteroid surface by quick touchdowns, it would be difficult to sample carbonaceous material.

'Researchers have been attempting to look for organic matter from Hayabusa samples in the past, and it was very difficult to prove that the organic material was indigenous to the asteroid,' she told MailOnline.

'Only one group of scientists managed to find water in Hayabusa sample in 2019, but they did not look at the organic content.'

It wasn't particularly surprising to her that they found the material as the mission observed a 'huge black boulder' on the surface of the space rock in 2005.

'Scientists think that this big boulder is a huge carbonaceous meteorite, but never get to prove it. So, we expected that there would possibly be carbonaceous material on the surface of asteroid Itokawa,' she said.

The success of this mission and the analysis of the sample that returned to Earth has since paved the way for a more detailed analysis of material returned by missions such as JAXA's Hayabusa2 and NASA's OSIRIS-Rex missions.

These are other sample-return missions, with Hayabusa2 returning larger amounts of rock samples from the asteroid Ryugu in 2020 and OSIRIS-Rex expected to return samples of the asteroid Bennu in 2023.

'Both of these missions have identified exogeneous materials on the target asteroids Ryugu and Bennu, respectively,' said Chan.

'Our findings suggest that mixing of materials is a common process in our solar system,' adding studying more samples will hopefully confirm those findings.

The findings have been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PANSPERMIA 

Scientists use tardigrade proteins for human health breakthrough

by University of Wyoming

University of Wyoming student Maxwell Packebush works with Silvia Sanchez-Martinez,

 a senior research scientist, to purify one of the tardigrade proteins used in a study showing

 that the proteins can be used to stabilize an important pharmaceutical for people with 

hemophilia and other conditions without the need for refrigeration. 

Credit: Thomas Boothby

University of Wyoming researchers' study of how microscopic creatures called tardigrades survive extreme conditions has led to a major breakthrough that could eventually make life-saving treatments available to people where refrigeration isn't possible.

Thomas Boothby, an assistant professor of molecular biology, and colleagues have shown that natural and engineered versions of tardigrade proteins can be used to stabilize an important pharmaceutical used to treat people with hemophilia and other conditions without the need for refrigeration—even amid high temperatures and other difficult conditions. The findings are detailed in Scientific Reports.

The pharmaceutical known as human blood clotting Factor VIII is an essential therapeutic used to treat genetic disease and instances of extreme bleeding. Despite being critical and effective in treating patients in these circumstances, Factor VIII has a serious shortcoming, in that it is inherently unstable. Without stabilization within a precise temperature range, Factor VIII will break down.

"In underdeveloped regions, during natural disasters, during space flight or on the battlefield, access to refrigerators and freezers, as well as ample electricity to run this infrastructure, can be in short supply. This often means that people who need access to Factor VIII do not get it," Boothby says. "Our work provides a proof of principle that we can stabilize Factor VIII, and likely many other pharmaceuticals, in a stable, dry state at room or even elevated temperatures using proteins from tardigrades—and, thus, provide critical lifesaving medicine to everyone everywhere."

The human blood clotting cascade. The clotting cascade of human blood plasma follows two prominent pathways; intrinsic, measured by Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (aPTT) and extrinsic, measured by Prothrombin Time (PT). To activate the intrinsic pathway, Human Blood Clotting Factor XII (FXII) acts as the first protein in a cascade of clotting factor activation. FXII activates FXI which activates FIX which finally activates FVIII. FVIII subsequently binds to and activates FX. To activate the extrinsic pathway, FVII forms a complex with Tissue Factor, activating FX. After activation of FX, both coagulation pathways converge. FX forms a complex with FV, converting prothrombin into thrombin. Thrombin then converts fibrinogen into fibrin, in turn creating a fibrin clot. Human plasma deficient in Factor VIII (highlighted in red) is unable to clot properly through the intrinsic pathway, unless supplemented with this factor, and thus clots more slowly. Adapted from Zaragoza and Espinoza-Villafuerte, 2017. Credit: Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-31586-9

Measuring less than half a millimeter long, tardigrades—also known as water bears—can survive being completely dried out; being frozen to just above absolute zero (about minus 458 degrees Fahrenheit, when all molecular motion stops); heated to more than 300 degrees Fahrenheit; irradiated several thousand times beyond what a human could withstand; and even survive the vacuum of outer space. They are able to do so, in part, by manufacturing a sugar called trehalose and a protein called CAHS D.

According to the research paper, Boothby and his colleagues fine-tuned the biophysical properties of both trehalose and CAHS D to stabilize Factor VIII, noting that CAHS D is most suitable for the treatment. The stabilization allows Factor VIII to be available in austere conditions without refrigeration, including repeated dehydration/rehydration, extreme heat and long-term dry storage.

The researchers believe the same thing can be done with other biologics—pharmaceuticals containing or derived from living organisms—such as vaccines, antibodies, stem cells, blood and blood products.

"This study shows that dry preservation methods can be effective in protecting biologics, offering a convenient, logistically simple and economically viable means of stabilizing life-saving medicines," Boothby says. "This will be beneficial not only for global health initiatives in remote or developing parts of the world, but also for fostering a safe and productive space economy, which will be reliant on new technologies that break our dependence on refrigeration for the storage of medicine, food and other biomolecules."

Boothby and other researchers hope that their discoveries can be applied to address other societal and global health issues as well, including water scarcity. For example, their work might lead to better ways of generating engineered crops that can cope with harsh environments.

More information: Maxwell H. Packebush et al, Natural and engineered mediators of desiccation tolerance stabilize Human Blood Clotting Factor VIII in a dry state, Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-31586-9. www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-31586-9

Provided by University of Wyoming 

Researchers reveal new knowledge of microscopic creature's durability

The world's toughest animal could one day help save your life
By Bronwyn Thompson
March 20, 2023

Water bear, moss piglet, scientific marvel: the tiny tardigrade
DepositphotosThey’ve been fired from a gas gun to test their candidacy for panspermia, are believed to have survived the Beresheet lunar probe's crash-landing on the Moon, can live without water, withstand radiation, survive being frozen and are expected to be one of the final forms of life on Earth when the sun begins to dim in about five billion years.


So it’s no surprise that everyone’s favorite microscopic critter has yet another superpower up its chubby sleeves: some clever chemistry unique to the tardigrade that can stabilize medicines without refrigeration. It has huge potential for getting life-saving treatment to those who need it.

Researchers at the University of Wyoming have homed in on one of the tardigrade’s key survival skills, anhydrobiosis. The team believed that the animal’s ability to enter reversible suspended animation when faced with extreme water loss from cells, could provide the same stable dry storage for biologic medicines that would otherwise require the chilled environment.

Biologics – vaccines, antibodies, stem cells, blood and other blood products – are derived from living organisms and require cold conditions to prevent heat breaking down the protein and destroying it. One that relies on this prohibitive cold-chain infrastructure is human blood-clotting (coagulation) factor VIII (FVIII), which among its therapeutic applications are treating genetic diseases such as hemophilia A and those with extreme physical trauma and bleeding.

By harnessing a specific protein and sugar that the microscopic water bear produces in anhydrobiosis, the researchers found that it could offer FVIII similar desiccation shields, meaning the biologic could be dehydrated and then rehydrated for use without the loss of its natural qualities. What's more, their study shows the FVIII remained stable for 10 weeks in its treated form.

“In underdeveloped regions, during natural disasters, during space flight or on the battlefield, access to refrigerators and freezers, as well as ample electricity to run this infrastructure, can be in short supply,” said Thomas Boothby, assistant professor of molecular biology at UW. “Our work provides a proof of principle that we can stabilize factor VIII, and likely many other pharmaceuticals, in a stable, dry state at room or even elevated temperatures using proteins from tardigrades – and, thus, provide critical live-saving medicine to everyone, everywhere.”

Using the Hypsibius dujardini species, the team fine-tuned a treatment based on the cytosolic abundant heat soluble (CAHS) proteins and the sugar trehalose. In particular, the CAHS D protein protects enzymes in its dehydrated state, forming gel-like filaments to keep the animal’s cell structure intact. When hydration returns, the filaments retreat without causing cellular stress.

Taking the biophysical properties of CAHS D and trehalose, the team was able to stabilize the FVIII, opening the door to develop this transport and storage technology across the spectrum of biologics.

“This study shows that dry preservation methods can be effective in protecting biologics, offering a convenient, logistically simple and economically viable means of stabilizing life-saving medicines,” said Boothby. “This will be beneficial not only for global health initiatives in remote or developing parts of the world, but also for fostering a safe and productive space economy, which will be reliant on new technologies that break our dependence on refrigeration for the storage of medicine, food and other biomolecules.”

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Source: University of Wyoming

Tardigrade protein can keep medicines stabilized without refrigeration

The results demonstrated that FVIII could remain stable in its treated form for up to ten weeks.

Mrigakshi Dixit
Created: Mar 21, 2023

Tardigrade stock image.

The tiny tardigrades, which measure less than half a millimeter in length, are frequently referred to as scientific marvels.

They can withstand harsh conditions such as freezing cold or super hot temperatures; they can survive without water, thrive in outer space, and can combat harmful radiation. These critters do, in fact, have a survival superpower.

It turns out scientists can tap into their superpower, which could help save medicines in unsuitable conditions and places.

 
Understanding tardigrade's survival skill

Scientists have delved into understanding how tardigrades survive frigid conditions, which could pave the way for medicines to be stabilized without refrigeration. This study is led by scientists from the University of Wyoming.

These microscopic creatures, also known as water bears, survive by producing trehalose (sugar) and CAHS D (protein). They do so through a process called anhydrobiosis — meaning life without water in Greek.

For this, the team fine-tuned the biophysical properties of CAHS D and trehalose in order to stabilize Factor VIII. Factor VIII is a critical protein in human blood clotting.

The results demonstrated that FVIII could remain stable in its treated form for up to ten weeks. It survived in the absence of refrigeration, dehydration/rehydration, dry storage, and even heat.

“Our work provides a proof of principle that we can stabilize Factor VIII, and likely many other pharmaceuticals, in a stable, dry state at room or even elevated temperatures using proteins from tardigrades — and, thus, provide critical life-saving medicine to everyone everywhere,” said Thomas Boothby, assistant professor of molecular biology, in a press release

Medicines require cold storage

Biologics, which include vaccines, antibodies, stem cells, blood, and other blood products, require cold temperatures to prevent heat from breaking down and destroying the protein.

Among these is factor VIII (FVIII), which has a significant pharmaceutical application and is heavily reliant on cold-chain infrastructure. It is used to treat genetic diseases such as hemophilia A and individuals who have experienced physical trauma and bleeding.

“In underdeveloped regions, during natural disasters, during space flight or on the battlefield, access to refrigerators and freezers, as well as ample electricity to run this infrastructure, can be in short supply. This often means that people who need access to Factor VIII do not get it,” said Boothby.

This method is also considered "logistically simple and economically viable" for preserving medicines. The details have been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Study abstract:

Biologics, pharmaceuticals containing or derived from living organisms, such as vaccines, antibodies, stem cells, blood, and blood products are a cornerstone of modern medicine. However, nearly all biologics have a major deficiency: they are inherently unstable, requiring storage under constant cold conditions. The so-called ‘cold-chain’, while effective, represents a serious economic and logistical hurdle for deploying biologics in remote, underdeveloped, or austere settings where access to cold-chain infrastructure ranging from refrigerators and freezers to stable electricity is limited. To address this issue, we explore the possibility of using anhydrobiosis, the ability of organisms such as tardigrades to enter a reversible state of suspended animation brought on by extreme drying, as a jumping off point in the development of dry storage technology that would allow biologics to be kept in a desiccated state under not only ambient but elevated temperatures. Here we examine the ability of different protein and sugar-based mediators of anhydrobiosis derived from tardigrades and other anhydrobiotic organisms to stabilize Human Blood Clotting Factor VIII under repeated dehydration/rehydration cycles, thermal stress, and long-term dry storage conditions. We find that while both protein and sugar-based protectants can stabilize the biologic pharmaceutical Human Blood Clotting Factor VIII under all these conditions, protein-based mediators offer more accessible avenues for engineering and thus tuning of protective function.