The chemistry of life’s emergence, the way merely organic, carbon-containing molecules begin linking up into large, self-replicating molecules like DNA and form life, remains a mystery, but scientists ...

Adding a small molecule, dubbed a “molecular midwife,” researchers increased the rate of DNA formation in a chemical reaction 1,000 fold over a similar reaction lacking a midwife. The discovery is an ...

From its humble origin(s), life has infected the entire planet with endless beautiful forms. The genesis of life is the oldest biological event, so old that no clear evidence was left behind other ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

The goal of understanding how inert molecules gave rise to life is one step closer, according to researchers who have created a system of RNA molecules that can partly replicate itself - and say they ...

The Nature Index 2025 Research Leaders — previously known as Annual Tables — reveal the leading institutions and countries/territories in the natural and health sciences, according to their output in ...

Catalytic molecules can form metabolically active clusters by creating and following concentration gradients -- this is the result of a new study. Their model predicts the self-organization of ...

Salk scientists engineered a right-handed RNA enzyme (bottom left) that can combine left-handed RNA fragments (bottom right) to create a mirror image of itself. The new left-handed RNA enzyme (top ...

Consider your hands. They are essentially identical in every respect bar one: They are mirror images of each other. Many of the molecules of life, such as proteins and DNA, have the same property.

From its humble origin(s), life has infected the entire planet with endless beautiful forms. The genesis of life is the oldest biological event, so old that no clear evidence was left behind other ...