New data show that the first single-celled organisms with a nucleus originated more than a billion years later than biogeochemical evidence had previously indicated. Contaminated…
Two newly published studies reveal evidence for how the genetic code developed in two distinct stages to help primordial chemicals evolve into cells. Chapel Hill,…
Using sophisticated modeling of genomic data from diverse species, scientists from Yale University have answered a longstanding question about which competing model of evolution works…
Researchers have conducted the first successful reversion of a bird’s skull features, replicating ancestral molecular development to transform chicken embryos in a laboratory into specimens…
A new study from Brown University examines a specialized pollination mechanism in conifers whose traits are linked through function but not development, exploring how integration…
New research from the University of Washington found evidence that life was pulling nitrogen out of the air and converting it into a form that…
By taking a closer look at feathers representing the evolutionary transition from dinosaurs to modern birds, Yale researchers demonstrate a better understand of how feathers…
Scientists from UCLA have discovered an organism that hasn’t evolved in more than 2 billion years. An international team of scientists has discovered the greatest…
A new study reveals that oxygen levels during the “boring billion” period were only 0.1% of what they are today, providing the first evidence that…
Several newly published studies reveal that flies, worms and humans share ancient patterns of gene expression. Although separated by hundreds of millions of years of…
A team of biophysicists at Rice University used computer models to show that the energy landscape involved in the long-term evolution of proteins is essentially…
A new study describes how electrical energy naturally produced at the sea floor might have given rise to life, assembling decades of field, laboratory and…
New research from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution tests the theory that simple metabolic reactions near ancient seafloor hot springs enabled life as we know it…
In a newly published study, researchers from the Natural History Museum provide the first evidence that any organic material, either inside a meteorite or already…
Researchers from the University of Nottingham have shown that in some organisms the genetic switches that control DNA replication are unnecessary and that cells will…
UC San Diego cosmochemists demonstrated that a chemical reaction, governed by known physical principles, can generate silicate dust with oxygen anomalies that match those found…
New research from biochemists at the UNC School of Medicine offers an intriguing new view on how life began, challenging current assumptions about the origins…
Scientists from the University of Cambridge have discovered a natural example of a functioning gear mechanism in an insect. Previously believed to be only man-made,…