Stephen Hawking's Final Theorem to New Chemical Theory for Where the Aliens Are

Today’s stories include NASA's Roman Telescope: How James Webb's successor will map the universe with colossal amounts of data to Quantum effects could be key to the chemistry of life on Titan, and more.

Stephen Hawking on the question of why the universe appears fine-tuned for life--Stephen Hawking's final theorem turns time and causality inside out. His collaborator cosmologist Thomas Hertog explains the radical solution they came up with for New Scientist.

Europa Clipper: A guide to NASA's new astrobiology mission, reports Keith Cooper for Space.com. Europa Clipper is NASA's mission to explore Jupiter's moon Europa and determine whether its underground ocean is habitable. It is scheduled to launch on Oct. 6, 2024, atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

A Trendy New Chemical Theory for Where the Aliens Are Hiding--Alien biochemistry is probably just as complex as it is for humans. And that lesson should help inform us where we should look. If Assembly Theory holds up, we could use it to search for aliens—by scanning distant planets and moons for complex molecules that should be evidence of living beings. That’s the latest idea from Assembly Theory’s originator, University of Glasgow chemist Leroy Cronin.

The Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS), reports Astrobiology. "The EELS system is a mobile instrument platform conceived to explore internal terrain structures, assess habitability and ultimately search for evidence of life. It is designed to be adaptable to traverse ocean-world-inspired terrain, fluidized media, enclosed labyrinthian environments and liquids."

Quantum effects could be key to the chemistry of life on Titan--Saturn’s moon Titan is too cold for many types of chemical reactions, but quantum tunneling could present a loophole that would allow reactions that are crucial for life, reports Leah Crane for NewSCientist.

NASA's Roman Telescope: How James Webb's successor will map the universe with colossal amounts of data, reports EuroNews.