origin of life Archives

Thin-section micrograph illustrating micritic crust at surface of stromatolite -- GSA

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release

New Vestiges Of The First Life On Earth Discovered In Saudi Arabia

by Keith CowingJune 3, 2024June 3, 2024

Stromatolites are the earliest geological record of life on Earth. These curious biotic structures are made of algae carpets growing toward the light and precipitating carbonates.

Hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, known as black smokers, emit volcanically heated fluids rich in dissolved metals and sulfur. These environments are oases of microbial activity on the ocean floor. -- Marum Universitat of Bremen

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Iron-sulfur Minerals Bear Witness To The Earliest Life On Earth

by Keith CowingMay 31, 2024May 31, 2024

A team of researchers at the Universities of Tübingen and Göttingen has found that certain minerals with characteristic shapes could indicate the activity of bacteria in hydrothermal vents – or […]

Unravel Life’s Cosmic Beginnings -- UH Manoa

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Interstellar, Press Release

UH Mānoa Scientists Help Unravel Life’s Cosmic Beginnings

by Keith CowingMay 15, 2024May 15, 2024

Knowledge about the early forms of life in the universe that may have led to the development of life on Earth remains largely unknown. However, a group of scientists at […]

Panels a-c are published micrographs of controversial microfossils reproduced from (a) - Westall et al.59, (b) - Wacey et al.63, and (c) - Wacey et al.64. Panel d is a published micrograph of a biomorph from Cosmidis and Templeton (2016)77 formed from sulfur and yeast extract. Panels e–h are confocal micrographs (a–g) and a transmission electron micrograph (h) of vesicles that were produced during this study. All scale bars are 10 µm. -- Nature

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report

Prebiotic Membrane Structures Mimic the Morphology of Alleged Early Traces of Life on Earth

by Keith CowingMay 14, 2024

Elucidating compositions of the first cell membranes requires experiments with molecules and chemical conditions representative of early Earth. The molecules used are described as ‘prebiotically plausible’, i.e., they could have […]

A plume of gas and ice grains emanates from the South Polar Terrain on Enceladus. The plume source is a global ocean of liquid water beneath the moon's icy crust. Plume materials erupt as diffuse “curtains” of water vapor punctured by ∼100 localized “jets” of gas and ice grains primarily 0.1–10 μm in size (Porco et al., 2006; Spitale et al., 2015). Small ice grains escape Enceladus' gravity and populate Saturn's E-ring, but larger, slower grains are ejected to an altitude of 30–50 km and then fall back (Goldstein et al., 2018). Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Enceladus: Astrobiology Revisited

by Keith CowingMay 14, 2024May 14, 2024

Astrobiology research seeks to understand how life begins and evolves, and to determine whether life exist elsewhere in the universe. The discovery of diverse ocean worlds has significantly expanded the […]

Biophysics, Commercial & Private Sector, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Press Release

NASA Researchers Develop ‘Founding Document’ on Synthetic Cell Development

by Keith CowingMay 14, 2024May 14, 2024

Cells are the fundamental units of life, forming the variety of all living things on Earth as individual cells and multi-cellular organisms. To better understand how cells perform the essential […]

A phase-contrast micrograph of a ciliate (Frontonia sp.) digesting blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). The cytostome (the "mouth" of the cell) is seen on the right side down. Image credit: (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED)

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life

Early Replicators

by Keith CowingMay 12, 2024May 12, 2024

Mathematical models of how ribonucleic acid (RNA)-like molecules make copies of themselves reveal new insights as the origins of life on Earth.

(a) Formation process of the ribose from 10 (Z)-ethene-1,2-diol, 5 formaldehyde, and 5 water under the condition of 10 GPa - 1400 K. (b) Free energy landscape for analyzing the formation process of ribose, as a function of two kinds of C-C distance as the collective variables. To better distinguish the selected carbon atoms, C1 and C2 are marked by yellow and orange colors, respectively. (c) The evolution process of the ribose from the open chain to a five-membered ring (10 GPa - 1400 K). (d) Comparison of the formation ability of five-membered ring and sixmembered ring based on the free energy calculation with the C-O distance as the collective variable. -- physics.bio-ph

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Synthesis And Stability Of Biomolecules Under Earth’s Upper Mantle Conditions

by Keith CowingMay 9, 2024

How life started on Earth is a long-time unsolved mystery. There are various hypotheses ranging from outer space to seabed.

Hexose sugar permeability through archaeal and hybrid membranes. Temporal dependence of average carboxyfluorescein (CF) fluorescence in the archaea-like G1PC phospholipid membrane (G1PC, filled symbols) and in the ‘hybrid’ phospholipid membrane (G3PC, open symbols) during the exposure to 1 mM of variant substrates delivered to the microfluidic coves. Mean (symbols) and standard deviation (error bars) were calculated from at least 10 single-vesicle measurements across three independent experiments. Data are processed and illustrated as described in Figure 1 legend. N is the number of single vesicles investigated for each substrate exposure and each type of vesicles. **: p-value < 0.01. Numerical values of CF fluorescence in individual vesicles for each lipid type during the delivery of each substrate are provided in S1 File and S2 File. -- biorxiv.org

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

Membrane Permeability Selection Drove the Stereochemistry of Life

by Keith CowingMay 9, 2024September 18, 2025

Early in the evolution of life a proto-metabolic network was encapsulated within a membrane compartment. The permeability characteristics of the membrane determined several key functions of this network by determining […]

Mass spectrum of the soluble extract from room temperature residual (C, CO, NH3, and H2O reactants). The molecular structures assigned to the peaks are shown without Na+, which is added during the ionization. -- physics.bio-ph

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Formation Of Extraterrestrial Peptides And Their Derivative

by Keith CowingMay 3, 2024May 3, 2024

The formation of protein precursors, due to the condensation of atomic carbon under the low-temperature conditions of the molecular phases of the interstellar medium, opens alternative pathways for the origin […]