A prevailing theory in the scientific community, known as the "RNA World" hypothesis, suggests that life may have originally ...

One of humanity’s most profound questions is whether life exists beyond Earth — and if so, what forms it might take. For ...

Their findings, appearing in Nature Chemistry, suggest that environmental factors played a key role in shaping the molecular complexity needed for life to emerge. To simulate early Earth ...

The earliest days of Earth held secrets that scientists are still trying to uncover. One of the greatest mysteries is how ...

This prebiotic Earth, however, was filled with a wide array of abiotic organic molecules derived from its early environment ... can uptake salts can provide insights into the relevant functions ...

Using computational modeling, a team of scientists explored how working backwards from modern biochemistry could help map out how simple, non-living chemicals present on early Earth gave rise to ...

and were probably “ubiquitous” on early Earth. But the experimental setup can be used to test other questions about early chemistry on the planet. Mast is hoping to next create a network of ...

The pathway, which has evaded scientists for decades, involved relatively simple molecules probably present on early Earth that combined ... Why do the rules of chemistry mean life here looks ...

Such networks, which would have been common on the early Earth, could have provided a kind ... Can we shape or stop evolution? New insights into nature are providing surprising answers, and ...

In addition to linking planetary processes that were generally thought to be unconnected, the study could reframe scientists' understanding of Earth's early history and provide insight into ...

They just couldn’t figure out what this mysterious ingredient was, but always suspected it had to do with the sulfur chemistry of ... the atmosphere of the early Earth before oxygen rose to ...

A new study explores how complex chemical mixtures change under shifting environmental conditions, shedding light on the prebiotic processes that may have led to life on Earth. In the Painted Desert ...