New research suggests complex life on Earth began 1.5 billion years earlier than previously thought. We review the top origin of life theories.

Cloud-to-ground lightning strikes simulated in a biosphere mimicking conditions on a young Earth led to chemical reactions resulting in "remarkable yields" of the building blocks for life.

CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom — Everything has a beginning, and a new study finds that the start of life on Earth arrived in the ...

Fragments of the asteroid Bennu, carefully collected and ferried to Earth by a robotic spacecraft, contain the building blocks for life, NASA announced today. NASA ‘fist bumps’ an asteroid to ...

Sidebar: RNA's Role at Beginning of Life - For Further Information Before there was life, there were chemicals. The idea that ribonucleic acid (RNA), because of its catalytic capability and multiple ...

We can’t yet tell how life got its start on Earth. That’s one great reason to keep looking for life elsewhere. Skip to main content. Scientific American. Opinion. September 16, 2024.

To address the profound question of life’s origin, it is crucial to understand the geological, chemical and environmental conditions on early Earth approximately 3.8 billion years ago.

The origin of life on Earth has long remained a mystery. Cosmic dust may have helped to kick-start life on Earth, new research suggests. The findings challenge a widely held assumption that this ...

Thankfully for us, all the Al-26 in our solar system decayed away very early on, leaving enough undifferentiated material to supply the Earth with the volatile compounds it needed to evolve life ...

“We’re only just beginning to understand the full majesty of life on Earth,” wrote the founding members of the Earth BioGenome Project in 2018. The ambitious project raised eyebrows when first ...

Life on Earth won’t suddenly end—it will fizzle out with a slow, irreversible decline. But despite the long time span, researchers are urging the importance of preparation and adaptation for ...