All life on Earth comes from one single ancestor. And it's so much older than we thought. All life on Earth can be traced ...

Surface-bound gels may have offered the structure and chemistry needed for life to take hold on Earth—and possibly elsewhere.

One key component might be RNA, a molecular cousin of DNA found in every form of life on Earth, and now scientists say they ...

People have long wondered what life was first like on Earth, and if there is life in our solar system beyond our planet. Scientists have reason to believe that some of the moons in our solar system – ...

University of Alberta geochemists have discovered a missing piece to one of the great mysteries of science—the origin of life on Earth.

Scientists studying samples from the Bennu asteroid located not too far from Earth continue to find clues as to how life ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. We’ve pieced together a remarkably detailed timeline of ...

Abiotic chemistry in Earth’s atmosphere could have generated biologically important organosulfur molecules as life was ...

Earth is so far the only known planet on which life exists—with liquid water and a stable atmosphere. However, the conditions were not conducive to life when it formed. The gas-dust cloud from which ...