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A comment on Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton.

Re:Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sedi... by saintgimp on Wednesday May 29, 2019 @09:32PM (#20047529)
The article uses the word "organic" in a highly technical manner, meaning chemical compounds that contain carbon, and of course we already know that space is filled with that sort of thing. It does NOT mean "organic" in the casual sense of originating from something alive.
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Re:Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sedi... by greglindahl on Wednesday May 29, 2019 @10:50PM (#20047944)
"Organic chemistry" is a very common usage of organic in that "contains carbon" sense.
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Re:Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sedi... by wyattpeak on Wednesday May 29, 2019 @11:12PM (#20048031)
For sure, it's entirely appropriate for the abstract, but it bears pointing out to an audience who might not be familiar with that usage.
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Re:Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sedi... by mpoteat on Wednesday May 29, 2019 @10:30PM (#20047842)
They do mean it that way, though. They mention the possibility of extinct life on Mars in the last paragraph highlight.
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Re:Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sedi... by rebuilder on Thursday May 30, 2019 @12:48AM (#20048484)
They mention their finding "highlights the challenges in store for the research for trace of extinct life in Mars.", which seems different to me.
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Re:Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sedi... by _bxg1 on Wednesday May 29, 2019 @11:10PM (#20048021)
As a layman I guessed as much, but wasn't positive. Clickbaity title.
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Re:Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sedi... by pugworthy on Wednesday May 29, 2019 @11:34PM (#20048138)
Not really - makes a ton of sense if you're an organic chemist.
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Re:Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sedi... by notabit on Thursday May 30, 2019 @06:57AM (#20049952)
I’m not an organic chemist or a chemist of any sorts, and the headline didn’t phase me at all or stick out as clickbait. I knew exactly what it meant though to be fair “o chem” was a common course among my friends majoring in things like bio-*.
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Re:Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sedi... by raverbashing on Thursday May 30, 2019 @02:39AM (#20048928)
Typical layman response, expecting niche articles to be dumbed down to them
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