Saladino, R., Di Mauro, E., & García‐Ruiz, J. M. (2019). A Universal Geochemical Scenario for Formamide Condensation and Prebiotic Chemistry. Chemistry–A European Journal, 25(13), 3181-3189. Download here: https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/chem.201803889 The condensation of formamide has been shown to be a robust chemical pathway affording molecules necessary for the origin of life. It has been experimentally demonstrated that condensation reactions of formamide are catalyzed by a number of minerals, including silicates, phosphates, sulfides, zirconia, and borates, and by cosmic dusts…
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Thermal assisted self-organization of calcium carbonate
Zhang, G., Verdugo-Escamilla, C., Choquesillo-Lazarte, D., & García-Ruiz, J. M. (2018). Thermal assisted self-organization of calcium carbonate. Nature communications, 9(1), 1-7. Download here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-07658-0.pdf Fabrication of mineral multi-textured architectures by self-organization is a formidable challenge for engineering. Current approaches follow a biomimetic route for hybrid materials based on the coupling of carbonate and organic compounds. We explore here the chemical coupling of silica and carbonate, leading to fabrication of inorganic–inorganic biomimetic structures known as silica-carbonate biomorphs. So…
Read MoreA crystallographic study of crystalline casts and pseudomorphs from the 3.5 Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton (Australia)
Otálora, F., Mazurier, A., Garcia-Ruiz, J. M., Van Kranendonk, M. J., Kotopoulou, E., El Albani, A., & Garrido, C. J. (2018). A crystallographic study of crystalline casts and pseudomorphs from the 3.5 Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton (Australia). Journal of applied crystallography, 51(4), 1050-1058. Download here: https://journals.iucr.org/j/issues/2018/04/00/jo5036/jo5036.pdf Crystallography has a long history of providing knowledge and methods for applications in other disciplines. The identification of minerals using X-ray diffraction is one of the most important contributions of…
Read MoreField trips to Rift Valley (Kenya)
We conducted the first trip to the alkaline lakes of the Rift Valley in Kenya from 8 to 23 of March 2016. The first day upon arrival we had scheduled several meetings with the authorities of Kenyan Wildlife Services and National Museums of Kenya to have permissions to do the exploration. During this trip of ten days we started exploring all the springs feeding the lake Magadi and Little Magadi. We collected samples of water,…
Read MoreField trip to Aqua de Ney (California)
This was our second trip to Siskiyou County (California, USA) from 1 to 7 of November in 2017. We returned to Aqua de Ney spring to collect water samples from the wells and to perform in situ measurements. We have collected water from many other springs in the area and measured in situ several hydrochemical environments. Bad weather and a number of logistic problems made impossible to reach Trinity 2, one of the most interesting…
Read MoreField trip to Dallol (Ethiopia)
We have returned to Dallol (from 4 to 20 of February 2019) to continue our research on the origin of the Mount Dallol and the hydrothermal system that it is developing there. Our field studies so far indicate that Dallol is a salt volcano, the first to be reported. We have also studied the geology of the area and discovered at least a new volcano, a stratovolcano. We have collected numerous salt rocks with different…
Read MoreNew publication on ”Mineral self-organization on a lifeless planet”
We are pleased to announce that our new review article entitled ”Mineral self-organization on a lifeless planet” is now available on line: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plrev.2020.01.001 García-Ruiz, J. M., van Zuilen, M., & Bach, W. (2020). Mineral self-organization on a lifeless planet. Physics of Life Reviews. It has been experimentally demonstrated that, under alkaline conditions, silica is able to induce the formation of mineral self-assembled inorganic-inorganic composite materials similar in morphology, texture and nanostructure to the hybrid biomineral structures…
Read MoreConference ”El cristal y la rosa”- The impact of the idea of crystals in arts and thinking: Lorca vs. Dali.
We would like to invite you to the conference ” The cristal and the rose” of Juan Manuel Garcia Ruiz, Professor of CSIC at the University of Granada, presented by Javier Lopez Facal, Research Professor of CSIC. The conference will take place on Monday, March 2, at 19:00, at the student residence of Madrid (see attached document for details). Along with the precious contribution of crystallography to the advancement of science and technology, the idea…
Read MorePresentation of the comic ”Something in the water”
Here you can watch Prof. Juan Manuel Garcia-Ruiz and Angel Fernandez from Jot Down talking about the comic festival ”Something in the water” that took place in Granada under the framework of the ERCcOMICSprogram. Check the related videos on https://youtu.be/8SSRdd__8Gk and https://youtu.be/KI3BiaIIYJk.
Read MorePresentation of the comic ”Something in the water”
Last year the ERCcOMICS program created a series of 15 webcomics based on two ERC projects. One of them was the Prometheus Project, entitled ”Something in the water”. There are versions in English and French in pdf that can be downloaded from the website. For now we have the Spanish version in book form thanks to the editorial of Jotdown magazine. The book can be obtained here. The first presentation was made in Granada as part…
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