A major impact can eradicate entire ecosystems. It can melt rocks, send debris around the planet, and create a dent in the crust. Additionally, the heat released from the object may provide an ...

Asteroid impacts may have helped kick-start life on Earth by creating hot, chemical-rich environments ideal for early biology. These impact-generated hydrothermal systems could have lasted thousands ...

Isolating the first spark of life on Earth is a matter of biology, geology, and chemistry—but it's also an amazing math ...

For centuries, we’ve assumed life began on Earth—but the theory of panspermia suggests it may have come from space, carried by comets, asteroids, or cosmic dust. If true, life might not be rare or ...

How did the earliest life on Earth build complex biological machinery with so few tools? A new study explores how the ...

A leading theory posits that life originated in prebiotic volcanic hot springs where the right mixture of elements, water, and energy drove chemical reactions to form the first protocells. To test ...

A study reconstructs the chemical composition of key molecules in stars by analyzing their infrared fingerprints.

NASA’s Curiosity rover has identified seven new organic compounds on the planet Mars, according to new research published in ...

Earth may have won a cosmic chemistry lottery. Researchers found that during the planet’s earliest formation, oxygen had to be in an extremely narrow “Goldilocks zone” for two life-essential elements, ...

On the shores of the west coast of Australia lies a window to our past: the stromatolites and microbial mats of Gathaagudu ...

Electron spin can create differences between mirror-image molecules, a potential explanation for why life favors one ...