Three scientists who discovered powerful techniques to decode and even design novel proteins—the building blocks of life—were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday. Their work used advanced ...

The origin of life on Earth has long been a mystery that has eluded scientists. A key question is how much of the history of life on Earth is lost to time. It is quite common for a single species to ...

A 3-D thermal model identifies a ~ 4.33 Ga temporal “sweet spot” for life’s origin, when decreased bombardment enabled mild hydrothermal niches to support RNA World chemistry and stable biomolecule ...

When a bone grows, our bodies’ proteins help provide the structure. When a muscle tears, proteins help rebuild it. When we fight an infection, transport oxygen in our blood or send messages to a cell, ...

Estimates for when life emerged on Earth range from ca. 3.8 Ga (Eoarchean) to the Hadean eon (≥4.0-4.5 Ga). Here, we conclude that a proposed early stage of life – the RNA World – appeared at ca. 4.33 ...

Unravel the foundational chemistry that affects everything on planet earth. It begins with the primary conversion of simple chemicals into complex compounds that form the building blocks of all life.

Life evolved from simple geochemical processes present on the early Earth. However, the details of this transformation remain a mystery. In this study, researchers modeled the emergence of metabolic ...

Metabolism is the "beating heart of the cell". New research from ELSI retraces the history of metabolism from the primordial Earth to the modern day (left to right). The history of compound discovery ...