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 ...

Conditions on early Earth may have become stable enough to sustain the chemistry associated with the origins of life around 4 ...

A 2.5-billion-year-old rock from South Africa's Gamohaan Formation. AI analysis suggests the dark structures preserved in the rock are the remains of a complex microbial community. Pairing ...

Life on Earth rests on a knife-edge of chemistry that could easily have tipped the other way. As geochemists reconstruct the planet’s birth, they are finding that a narrow band of oxygen conditions ...

One of humanity’s most profound questions is whether life exists beyond Earth — and if so, what forms it might take. For decades, the search for life has often focused on finding conditions similar to ...

MSU researcher Katie Maloney contributed samples of rare, exceptionally well-preserved seaweed fossils (e.g., macroscopic algae) from Yukon Territory, Canada. These fossils are almost one-billion ...

Enceladus’ chilly geysers spew chemical compounds that hint at the potential for life in the moon of Saturn’s subsurface ocean. But some compounds within the plumes may have formed via high-energy ...

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