Origin and evolution of life

For the first four billion years of Earth's history, our planet's continents would have been devoid of all life except microbes.

A simple, unconventional protein had the flexibility to help life evolve.

RNA was probably the first informational molecule. Now LMU chemists have demonstrated that alternation of wet and dry conditions could have sufficed to drive the prebiotic synthesis of the RNA nucleosides found in all domains of life.

Two wayward space rocks, which separately crashed to Earth in 1998 after circulating in our solar system’s asteroid belt for billions of years, share something else in common: the ingredients for life.

Earliest animals evolved on seafloor microbial mats.

Archaea, bacteria, and eukarya use the same mechanism to maintain size

Mutant enzymes evolved organo-silicon molecules new to science.

New paleontological research shows that during the late Permian, the equator was dry and desert-like, yet surprisingly a hotspot for biodiversity.

Which group of animals evolved first? This problem has become a bone of contention among biologists.

Reservoirs of oxygen-rich iron between the Earth’s core and mantle could have played a major role in Earth’s history.