{"id":160638,"date":"2023-03-19T14:22:24","date_gmt":"2023-03-19T19:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/a-trendy-new-chemical-theory-for-where-the-aliens-are-hiding"},"modified":"2023-03-19T14:22:24","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T19:22:24","slug":"a-trendy-new-chemical-theory-for-where-the-aliens-are-hiding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/a-trendy-new-chemical-theory-for-where-the-aliens-are-hiding","title":{"rendered":"A Trendy New Chemical Theory for Where the Aliens Are Hiding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/a-trendy-new-chemical-theory-for-where-the-aliens-are-hiding.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a theory that\u2019s in vogue in astrochemistry called \u201cAssembly Theory.\u201d It posits that highly complex molecules\u2014many acids, for example\u2014could only come from living beings. The molecules are either part of living beings, or they\u2019re things that intelligent living beings manufacture.<\/p>\n<p>If Assembly Theory holds up, we could use it to search for aliens\u2014by scanning distant planets and moons for complex molecules that <em> should <\/em> be evidence of living beings. That\u2019s the latest idea from Assembly Theory\u2019s originator, University of Glasgow chemist Leroy Cronin. \u201cThis is a radical new approach,\u201d Cronin told The Daily Beast.<\/p>\n<p>But not every expert agrees it would work\u2014at least not anytime soon. To take chemical readings of faraway planets, scientists rely on spectroscopy. This is the process of interpreting a planet\u2019s color palette to assess the possible mix of molecules in its atmosphere, land, and oceans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s a theory that\u2019s in vogue in astrochemistry called \u201cAssembly Theory.\u201d It posits that highly complex molecules\u2014many acids, for example\u2014could only come from living beings. The molecules are either part of living beings, or they\u2019re things that intelligent living beings manufacture. If Assembly Theory holds up, we could use it to search for aliens\u2014by scanning [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1527,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alien-life","category-chemistry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}