Explore the history of life on Earth, from 3.5-billion-year-old fossils to the vast diversity of species on our planet today.

Scientists have seemingly settled long-standing arguments about whether the components of Earth originated from the inner or ...

New research suggests that the origins of life may be tied not only to deep-sea hydrothermal vents but also to environments ...

Scientists involved in planetary formation studies, meteorites, and early solar system investigations have been wondering ...

The origin of life on Earth has been mulled over by scientists for centuries. We now know that life’s building blocks are RNA, amino acids, and cells. But if life originated from the primordial ooze ...

In a new book, astrophysicist Mario Livio describes how the existence of life on Earth can be traced back to an RNA-based “protocell.” The following is an excerpt from Is Earth Exceptional?: The Quest ...

Earth's magnetic field plays a key role in protecting life on our planet. Yet its origin and evolution remain subjects of intense research. Scientists rely on the dynamo theory to explain the ...

The emergence of the first biopolymers and their building blocks on the early Earth is considered a key moment in the origin of life (OoL), but how life began on the prebiotic Earth from a pile of ...