How can we know what life on Earth looked like more than three billion years ago, when rocks from that era are so rare and difficult to exploit? To answer this question, researchers have adopted ...

A study published this week in the journal Nature Astronomy presents evidence that the asteroid Ryugu contains all five of the nucleotide bases that make up the genetic code. That includes the ...

By reconstructing ancient nitrogen-processing enzymes, scientists are uncovering new clues about how early life survived on a very different Earth.

There is still so much we don’t understand about the origin of life on Earth. The definition of life itself is a source of debate among scientists, but most researchers agree on the fundamental ...

In a new book, astrophysicist Mario Livio describes how the existence of life on Earth can be traced back to an RNA-based “protocell.” The following is an excerpt from Is Earth Exceptional?: The Quest ...

Billions of years of evolution have made modern cells incredibly complex. Inside cells are small compartments called organelles that perform specific functions essential for the cell’s survival and ...

Who were our earliest ancestors? The answer could lie in a special group of single-celled organisms with a cytoskeleton similar to that of complex organisms, such as animals and plants. Ten years ago, ...