How life emerged on Earth from an assortment of non-living molecules is a stubbornly enduring mystery but now we could have some more clues thanks to a recent study.
NASA scientists said Thursday the Mars Perseverance rover found biologically-interesting rocks in an ancient lake bed that could indicate microbial life existed on the red planet billions of years ago.
the team's overall results suggest that carbon dioxide was a vital ingredient for the emergence of life on Earth – but only when combined with other ingredients.
We still don't know just how the first life emerged on Earth. One suggestion is that the building blocks arrived here from space; now, a new study of several carbon-rich meteorites has added weight to this idea.
Japanese researchers have discovered more than 20 amino acids on the space rock Ryugu, which is more than 200 million miles (320 million kilometers) from Earth.
A new research article sheds light on another way that supernovae support life. Supernova activity in Earth’s neighbourhood may have led to more oxygen in the atmosphere. And oxygen is necessary for complex life.
A simple compound called diamidophosphate (DAP), which was plausibly present on Earth before life arose, could have chemically knitted together tiny DNA building blocks called deoxynucleosides into strands of primordial DNA.
The Austrian researchers are the first in the world to demonstrate 'YeiN', an enzyme that is a suitable biocatalyst for the production of C-nucleosides, the basic building blocks of RNA.
NASA scientists identified a molecule in Titan’s atmosphere that has never been detected in any other atmosphere - cyclopropenylidene, or C3H2. This simple molecule may be a precursor to possible life on Titan.
New research identifies a process that might have been key in producing the first organic molecules on Earth about 4 billion years ago, before the origin of life. The process may also have relevance to the life elsewhere in the universe.
Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, is one of the last places we think about when considering the potential for life in the solar system. New research suggests the planet's interior once contained the basic ingredients for life.
It's calculated that, thanks to rapid inflation, the universe may contain more than 1 googol (10^100) stars, and if this is the case then more complex, life-sustaining RNA structures are more than just probable, they're practically inevitable.
The molecules were extracted by the Curiosity rover from a mudstone section of the Gale Crater. Scientists have concluded that we can't rule out those molecules actually have a biological origin.
A team of German scientists recently examined data gathered by the Cassini orbiter around Enceladus’ southern polar region and found was evidence of organic signatures that could be the building blocks for amino acids.
A new study by an international team of astronomers has discovered the presence of organic molecules in the disk of a young star V883 Ori, located about 1300 light-years away from the Earth.
