Space Exploration and the Origins of Life

The results of 21st century space exploration are truly impossible to imagine. The Wright brothers flew for 2 8 seconds in 1903 and less than a century later there were tangible plans to establish a permanent base on the Moon in preparation for a manned landing on Mars. It was only in 1995 that the first extrasolar planet was identified definitively. As of January 2006, 153 extrasolar planetary systems have been identified including a total of at least 

It will become increasingly clear that it is a crime against the future to take petroleum and burn it. Not just because of global warming, but because we are burning away materials that are tremendously valuable for other uses. 

Another vast potential source of hydrocarbon fuel is in complexes called methane hydrates that are buried in cold, high-pressure conditions in the ocean and in the Arctic. Methane hydrates are hydrogen-bonded cages of water molecules surrounding methane molecules. They are examples of supermolecular complexes called clathrates. One U.S. Geological Survey 

New Chemical Lows in Brain Surveillance. Chemical if Engineering News 84 (February 20, 2006) 12-17. This is a brief survey of the future role of electrochemistry in probing the brain. 

American Chemical Society. A Look at Drugs That Changed Our World. Chemical if Engineering News (Special Issue) 83 (June 20, 2005). This issue provides an overview of modern pharmaceutical chemistry and specific details on 46 drugs that have had a major impact upon human health. 

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