![Graphical abstract -- [The Journal of Membrane Biology]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/From-Meteorites.png?resize=1200%2C712&ssl=1)
[The Journal of Membrane Biology] Life requires membranes. But what were the first membranes made of, and how did they acquire the functional complexity of modern cells?
Origin & Evolution of Life
![The origin of life is the first, arguably, the most important and also the most enigmatic major transition in evolution (MTE). [q-bio.PE]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/The-first.png?resize=1200%2C718&ssl=1)
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
The First Major Transition: Origin Of Life From A Multilevel Selection Perspective
[q-bio.PE] As all MTE, the transition at the origin of life can be constructively addressed only within the conceptual framework of multilevel selection. The two levels of selection relevant for […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
RNA Droplets May Have Helped Start life on Earth
[University at Buffalo] It’s one of the origins of life’s chicken-or-the-egg problems: How could RNA have helped give rise to the first cells before there were cells to contain them?
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Metagenomics Deciphers Diagenetic Processes Of Ferruginous Mineralization In The Deep Biosphere
[Nature Communications Earth & Environment] Ferruginous conditions in the Precambrian oceans gave rise to ancient iron formations that contain the oldest recognized traces of life in the form of mineral […]
![Photographs of the mineral and inorganic substrates used in this study and the corresponding hybrid materials obtained. -- [Nature]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Synthesis.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Synthesis Of Mineral-organic Hybrid Materials Under Dynamic Prebiotic Conditions
[Nature] The increasing of molecular complexity must be understood as a planetary phenomenon where prebiotic chemistry and geological settings converge. In this scene, HCN chemistry may have played a crucial […]
![Selection on a collective trait drives the origin of heredity. (A) Intracellular 5 competition drives the dominance of the red plasmid when fluorescence is enforced (left-hand panel) while poor inheritance and carriage costs purge the ancestral plasmid population entirely when no selective gate is used (right-hand panel). Coloured zones show the proportion of the population in each colour class through 21 cycles: red only, green only, yellow (red plus green), white (cells without fluorescence). -- [biorxiv.org]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Forging.png?resize=1200%2C718&ssl=1)
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
Forging An Evolutionary Individual From Separate Replicators
[biorxiv.org] A central puzzle in the evolution of individuality is the origin of heredity. Egalitarian transitions integrate formerly independent replicators into a higher-level individual, but this requires the collective to […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Concurrent Phosphite Oxidation And Adenosine Phosphorylation Under Prebiotic Evaporative Conditions
[Journal of Molecular Evolution] Here, we investigate the concurrent oxidation of phosphite and phosphorylation/phosphonylation of adenosine under prebiotically plausible conditions.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Emergence Of Biosignatures On Earth And Implications For Life Detection
[PNAS] Earth’s organic chemical evolution (OCE) from abiotic to prebiotic to biotic provides critical insights that may have implications for how we interpret observations made by life-detection planetary missions.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry
Chemically Modified Sugars As Multifunctional Precursors For Direct, Template-Free Synthesis Of Nanoporous Carbonaceous Materials
[JACS] Carbonaceous solids with pores in the nanometer domain are of great technological importance owing to their amenability to sorption/separation, catalysis, and electrochemical applications.
![Graphical illustration showing planetary bodies (not to scale) where H2O2 has been detected, the major production pathways of H2O2, and its role in a few examples of prebiotic chemical networks. -- [Fundamental Research]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Hydrogen-peroxide-1.png?resize=1200%2C716&ssl=1)
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Hydrogen Peroxide On Mars And Icy Moons: Implications For The Search For Extraterrestrial Signatures Of Prebiotic Chemistry
[Fundamental Research]. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is increasingly recognized as an important molecule in prebiotic chemistry that potentially had a large impact on life’s early evolution.