Cold cosmic dust grains can link amino acids into protein‑like chains in deep space, suggesting life’s chemistry may begin long before planets form, seeding young worlds.

A doctoral student recreated a tiny piece of the universe in a bottle to investigate the chemistry that led to life on Earth.

A 13-atom molecule containing sulfur has been discovered in interstellar space for the first time, providing insight into the origins of the chemistry of life.

A team of researchers studied the properties of membranes to understand how these cellular structures influenced the chemistry of life on Earth as it began. How life arose remains a looming question ...

The complex building blocks of life can form spontaneously in space, a new lab experiment shows.

It may seem easy to distinguish whether something is alive or not. You are alive, as is your teacher, and the trees you see on your way to school. Your desk and chair are not alive, and neither are ...

Metabolism is the "beating heart of the cell". New research from ELSI retraces the history of metabolism from the primordial Earth to the modern day (left to right). The history of compound discovery ...

A new study explores how complex chemical mixtures change under shifting environmental conditions, shedding light on the prebiotic processes that may have led to life. By exposing organic molecules to ...

Several studies in recent years have found amino acids, some of the molecules that make up cell membranes, and other key pieces of the chemistry of life floating on grains of interstellar dust. But a ...

Stanley L. Miller, an emeritus professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego whose famous laboratory experiments in 1952 demonstrated how the simple organic ...

Could an interstellar comet be deliberately sowing the seeds of life across the Solar System? The recent passage of 3I/ATLAS, a hyperbolic visitor from beyond our Sun’s gravitational reach, has ...