Origin & Evolution of Life Archives

A researcher holds a vibrant green sample of thermophilic cyanobacteria collected from a hot spring in Yellowstone’s Lower Geyser Basin. National Park Service photo by Samantha Hilburn, August 2025. Research conducted under Yellowstone National Park research permit YELL-2025-SCL-8336

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Studying Thermophiles In Yellowstone National Park

by Keith CowingSeptember 24, 2025September 24, 2025

Ask any Yellowstone park ranger about hazards in the park, and you will soon learn that hydrothermal features (not bears) have caused more harm than any other natural threat. Park […]

Adenosine TriPhosphate (ATP) -- Wikipedia

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Thermal Decomposition and Prebiotic Formation of Adenosine Phosphates in Simulated Early-Earth Evaporative Settings

by Keith CowingSeptember 17, 2025September 17, 2025

Adenosine nucleotides and polyphosphates play a significant role in biochemistry, from participating in the formation of genetic material to serving as metabolic energy currency.

Graphical Abstract -- Journal of Molecular Biology

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Tracing The Origin Of Earth Life’s Genetic Code To Early Protein Structures

by Keith CowingSeptember 17, 2025

Genes are the building blocks of life, and the genetic code provides the instructions for the complex processes that make organisms function. But how and why did it come to […]

A map of Earth in the Emsian stage of the Early Devonian (405 million years ago) Wikipedia

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Mid-Devonian Ocean Oxygenation Enabled The Expansion Of Animals Into Deeper-water Habitats

by Keith CowingSeptember 17, 2025September 17, 2025

The oxygenation history of Earth’s surface environments has had a profound influence on the ecology and evolution of metazoan life.

Conferences and Meetings, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Origins 2026 (IAU Symposium 407)

by Keith CowingSeptember 17, 2025September 18, 2025

Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce Origins 2026 (IAU Symposium 407), jointly organized by the International Society for the Study of the Origins of Life – The International Astrobiology […]

Volvox is a genus of multicellular green algae. Frank Fox - http://www.mikro-foto.de via Wikipedia larger image

Astrobiology (general), Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

What Do The Fundamental Constants Of Physics Tell Us About Life?

by Keith CowingSeptember 16, 2025September 16, 2025

In the 1970s, the renowned physicist Victor Weisskopf famously developed a research program to qualitatively explain properties of matter in terms of the fundamental constants of physics.

Amplification of the successor function under varying initial conditions. For each pixel in the heatmap, 100 soups containing 5000 expressions are run for 106 collisions. We measure the number of soups containing at least 20% successor functions at the end of their runs. Each soup is initialized with a small fraction of successor functions (yaxis), and a large fraction of test functions (x-axis). Bright yellow indicates that all soups have a large quantity of successor functions, dark blue indicates that none do. -- cs.FL

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Prebiotic Functional Programs: Endogenous Selection In An Artificial Chemistry

by Keith CowingSeptember 15, 2025September 14, 2025

Artificial chemistry simulations produce many intriguing emergent behaviors, but they are often difficult to steer or control.

The four helices conserved across the Lipocone superfamily constitute a cone-like structure, with the helices tending to coalesce on one end and open out into a pocket on the other, lined by the conserved sequence positions. Image credit: Burroughs, Nicastro and L. Aravind (CC BY 4.0)

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Origins Of Wnt Signalling Reveals A Protein Superfamily Across The Tree of Life

by Keith CowingSeptember 11, 2025September 18, 2025

Researchers have described a large set of previously unrecognised enzymatic domains – named the Lipocone superfamily – and outlined their evolutionary pathway from bacterial defence molecules to key players in […]

Mineralogical map of Jezero crater explored by the Perseverance rover. This mineral map was created from near-infrared (1-2.6 µm) CRISM imagery (Parente et al., 2021) using recently developed technologies (Itoh et al., 2021; Saranathan et al., 2021) and overlain on High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE ) imagery. The basaltic rocks at the landing site are dominated by the minerals olivine (red) and pyroxene (tan). Further west, in regions called the Western Fan and Margin Unit, sedimentary rocks predominate. Smectite clay minerals rich in iron and magnesium (light to dark blue tones) and carbonate rich in magnesium and iron (green-yellow tones) were formed through aqueous processes. Unusual iron phosphate and iron sulfide minerals were found at the Bright Angel and Masonic Temple sites near Neretva Vallis (Hurowitz et al., 2025). Other iron phosphate minerals were observed at the Onahu site in the Western Fan region. Credit M. Parente

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Habitable Zones, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Perseverance Rover Uncovers Clues To Ancient Martian Chemistry

by Keith CowingSeptember 11, 2025

NASA’s Perseverance Rover spent three years exploring the floor of Jezero Crater, located just north of the Martian equator.

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report, Titan, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

NASA OIG Report: NASA’s Management Of The Dragonfly Project

by Keith CowingSeptember 9, 2025September 9, 2025

Dragonfly, a rotorcraft lander that will fly like a large drone, is designed to gather samples from Saturn’s moon Titan, characterize Titan’s habitability, and look for precursors of the origin […]