Sugar, Acetylene, and Life on Titan: Life Not As We Know It

On Earth, the most common forms of energy storage molecules are sugars. These are rings made of oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen atoms which store chemical energy in their bonds. How exactly does this work, you ask? Well, chemical bonds take energy to create. They also release energy when they are broken. The more chemical bonds … Continue reading Sugar, Acetylene, and Life on Titan: Life Not As We Know It

Genetic Material: Alien and Earthly

The most basic possible definition of life is this: life is a self-replicating pattern. The simplest forms of life on Earth today are bacteria, who exist for the sole purpose of reproducing more of themselves. Over time, copying errors + natural selection cause versions of the pattern that are better and better at surviving to … Continue reading Genetic Material: Alien and Earthly

Orange Dwarfs: Life Around Class K Stars

Today’s blog entry will be much shorter than Friday’s, for one simple reason: Class K “orange dwarf” stars are much less terrifying than Class M red dwarfs. That means there are fewer survival challenges and requirements for your characters. Class K stars are something of a “happy medium” between our own Sun and red dwarfs. … Continue reading Orange Dwarfs: Life Around Class K Stars

Life Around Red Dwarf Stars

I hope you’re all ready for a super-blog. We’ve got a lot to cover in this introduction to star type + the perils of life around a red dwarf star, so let’s jump right in. The stars in the sky all look pretty much the same from Earth. If we can see them at all, … Continue reading Life Around Red Dwarf Stars