Temperature can control the growth of biomorphs

Temperature can control the growth of biomorphs

Biomorphs are silica and carbonate materials capable of assembling themselves to create symmetries, forms and structures similar to those of living organisms. The results of this CSIC study have been published in the journal ‘Nature Communications’. Calcium carbonate is the mineral most used by living organisms to build complex structures with excellent mechanical properties that they use as exoskeletons. To make them, they only need calcium from sea or river water, carbon dioxide from the…

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Silica Metal Oxide Vesicles Catalyze Comprehensive Prebiotic Chemistry

Silica Metal Oxide Vesicles Catalyze Comprehensive Prebiotic Chemistry

Mattia Bizzarri, B.; Botta, L.; Perez-Valverde, M. I.; Saladino, R.; Di Mauro, E.; Garcia-Ruiz, J. M., Silica Metal Oxide Vesicles Catalyze Comprehensive Prebiotic Chemistry. Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) 2018, 24 (32), 8126-8132. Download paper. It has recently been demonstrated that mineral self‐assembled structures catalyzing prebiotic chemical reactions may form in natural waters derived from serpentinization, a geological process widespread in the early stages of Earth‐like planets. We have synthesized self‐assembled membranes by mixing…

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International School of Crystallization (ISC2018)

International School of Crystallization (ISC2018)

Prometheus has supported the 6th International School of Crystallization: Drugs, Foods, Agrochemicals, Minerals, New Materials (ISC2018, http://www.iscgranada.org/) under the auspices of the International Union of Crystallography through the Crystal Growth and Characterization of Materials Commission and the Teaching Commission, with the support of the International Doctoral Summer School Programme of the School of Science, Technology and Engineering of the University of Granada, the Spanish Specialized Group of Crystallography and Crystal Growth (GE3C) and the Excellence Network…

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PROMETHEUS-TRACES Meeting June 2018

PROMETHEUS-TRACES Meeting June 2018

Our annual ERC Advanced Project PROMETHEUS meeting has been held from the 18th to the 21st of June 2018 at the facilities of Hotel Martin Alonso Pinzon in Mazagón (Huelva), close to the extremely acidic landscapes of the mines of Rio Tinto. We have organised the meeting jointly with ERC Consolidator project ‘TRACES’ led by Dr. Mark van Zuilen, from the Institut du Physique du Globe in Paris. We shared four intense and fruitful days…

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Teaching in Kenyan Schools

Teaching in Kenyan Schools

Teaching in Kenyan Schools (downloadable pdf) The ERC project Prometheus aims to explore the role of mineral self-assembly in the early Earth and its plausible role in primitive life detection and origin of life. Within the project, we have to travel to remote places in search of silica-rich alkaline waters and other extreme geochemical environments. We like to explain people of the regions we visit what we are looking for and why. When possible we…

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