The tiny pantheon known as the Asgard archaea bear traits that hint at how plants, animals and fungi emerged on Earth.

How can animate life be formed from inanimate matter? It’s one of the most fascinating enigmas in science because, without this crucial first step, called abiogenesis, there would be no life on Earth.

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 ...

Two of the most intriguing questions in science are: How did life on Earth begin? and Is there life elsewhere in the universe? Given the enormous interest in these questions, you might expect that the ...

For nearly a decade, a near-Earth asteroid named Kamo’oalewa has invoked speculation over how it came to orbit the Sun in total synchrony with Earth as though it shares some special relationship with ...

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 ...

Robin Smith receives funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). Using radar, a Nasa spacecraft, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), has confirmed the existence of caves beneath ...

The group of rare earth elements (REEs) comprises a total of 17 elements, all of which possess similar chemical properties. In addition to the two lightest elements, scandium and yttrium, the group ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. We’ve pieced together a remarkably detailed timeline of ...