More than 550 million years ago, the oceans were teeming with flat, soft-bodied creatures that fed on microbes and algae and could grow as big as bathmats. Today, researchers at […]
Origin & Evolution of Life
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
The First Microbial Supertree From Figure-mining Thousands Of Papers
[BBSRC] While recent reports reveal the existence of more than 114,000,000 documents of published scientific literature, finding a way to improve the access to this knowledge and efficiently synthesise it […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Unsuspected New Microbes Expand The Tree of Life
The tree of life, which depicts how life has evolved and diversified on the planet, is getting a lot more complicated. Researchers at UC Berkeley, who have discovered more than […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Volcanic Hydrogen Spurs Chances of Finding Exoplanet Life
Hunting for habitable exoplanets now may be easier: Cornell University astronomers report that hydrogen pouring from volcanic sources on planets throughout the universe could improve the chances of locating life […]
Posted inFossils & Paleontology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Biochemical Fossil Shows How Life May Have Emerged Without Phosphate
One major mystery about life’s origin is how phosphate became an essential building block of genetic and metabolic machinery in cells, given its poor accessibility on early Earth. In a […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Did Life Start More Than Once on Earth?
Conditions suitable to support complex life may have developed in Earth’s oceans — and then faded — more than a billion years before life truly took hold, a new University […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
How Complex Cellular Life May Have Emerged
In a new study, published in Nature this week, an international research group led from Uppsala University in Sweden presents the discovery of a group of microbes that provide new […]
Posted inFossils & Paleontology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Ancient Rocks Hold Evidence Of Life Before Oxygen
Somewhere between Earth’s creation and where we are today, scientists have demonstrated that some early life forms existed just fine without any oxygen. While researchers proclaim the first half of […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Meteorites and the RNA World: A Thermodynamic Model of Nucleobase Synthesis within Planetesimals
The possible meteorite parent body origin of Earth’s pregenetic nucleobases is substantiated by the guanine (G), adenine (A) and uracil (U) measured in various meteorites. Cytosine (C) and thymine (T) […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Constraints on the Early Terrestrial Surface UV Environment Relevant to Prebiotic Chemistry
The UV environment is a key boundary condition for the origin of life. However, considerable uncertainty exists as to planetary conditions and hence surface UV at abiogenesis. Here, we present […]