Origin of life

The material, now part of an African mountain range, bolsters the idea that hydrothermal veins supported early forms of life.

Electrical storms, rather than meteorites as scientists had previously thought, could have unlocked phosphorus necessary for the development of ancient life, according to a new study.

Jeremy England, this month’s Reading Frames author, explains his views on how life may have started not with a primordial, disordered soup, but with smart protein assemblages.

In Chapter 7, “Wind and Breath,” author Jeremy England considers research findings that point to a surprising, emergent property of seemingly disordered molecules.

Is the model of early life as a freak occurrence in a disordered, primordial soup of chemicals wrong?

A mixture of chemicals induces reactions reminiscent of life on pyrite.

A new study finds mixtures of nucleotide types, rather than pure systems, are more likely to yield the building blocks of life.

Our brains have evolved to the point where we can build artificial brains that might help us understand our brains. Let that sink in.

The discovery that the adenosine derivative aids self-replication adds weight to the theory that life on Earth originated from a mixture of RNA molecules.

Microbes were living on land as early as 3.22 billion years ago, fossilized rocks show, 500 million years earlier than previously documented.

Contrary to some hypotheses, the organelles did not descend from any known lineage of Alphaproteobacteria, researchers find.

Growing evidence points to a once-habitable world—and recent findings suggest that life could exist on Mars today.

Reactions that generate fundamental components of the cell run smoothly in microdroplets, study shows.

New starring roles for nucleic acids

The dust surrounding emerging, Sun-like stars contains methyl isocyanate, an organic molecule.

A new estimate of the origin of life on Earth pushes back the date by 300 million years.

New research points to key properties of transfer RNA molecules and amino acids that may have supported the origin of life on Earth.

Reconstructing the past using ancient DNA

Meet some of the people featured in the June 2015 issue of The Scientist.