this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2023
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/2147796

We identify "life" with the capability of self-replication plus some other features. In other conditions, for instance on other planets, it could be possible for self-replication to happen in a way different from the RNA/DNA-based one.

I remember stumbling, years ago, on research and papers that studied this kind of possibility. But I'm having a hard time finding the old references or new ones.

Do you have interesting papers and research material to share about this? Thank you!

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[–] niucllos@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't have specific papers but a lot of research into the origins of life on this planet go into that kind of thing! I know there have been interesting findings into using clay imprints for self replication, for instance

[–] pglpm@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Got one! XNA. Here's an article example (boo behind a paywall).

[–] 133arc585@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's available for free on a popular "scientific research paper file sharing site"[^1] if you search for its title.

[^1]: The founder of which just won an EFF Award a couple days ago!

[–] pglpm@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Got it ;) But I hadn't heard about the award! can you share some link about that? Cheers!

Edit: found it! Well done EFF! (I'm a proud member.)

[–] pglpm@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

Cool! Let's see what kind of material people bring out :)

I remember I did a search 5 or more years ago, and it was actually tricky because I only got something after searching for very specific terms, which in turn I had gotten from other searches. I'm trying to remember what they were...