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.
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.
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.
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.
According to the model of US researchers, the entire Milky Way (and even other galaxies) could be exchanging the components necessary for life.
Researchers have found among the first and perhaps only hard evidence that simple protein catalysts - essential for cells, the building blocks of life, to function - may have existed when life began.
In its quest to find extant life in the Solar System, NASA has focused its gaze on the Jovian moon Europa. But scientists believe it is Enceladus that stands the greatest chance of making that next big step.
Using mass spectrometry data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists found that large, carbon-rich organic molecules are ejected from cracks in the icy surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus.
A new analysis of data from NASA's Dawn mission suggests that organic matter may exist in surprisingly high concentrations on the dwarf planet's surface.
The finding has significant implications for whether life once existed on Mars.
According to a recent study, space dust could be what brought life molecules to Earth. This same mechanism could be responsible for the distribution of life throughout the Universe.
Could the building blocks for life on Earth have been delivered by meteorites crashing into ponds of water 4 billion years ago?
A discovery on Saturn's Moon Titan could be an indication of how life begins to emerge throughout the Universe.
Two teams of researchers reported they have detected a prebiotic molecule—a potential building block of life—around newly formed sunlike stars.
