Origins of life – Page 2
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FeatureHow protocells bridge the gap from chemistry to biology
Rachel Brazil talks to the scientists trying to recreate what the first cells were like, or to make their own versions
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OpinionNed Seeman’s legacy
A system based on DNA ‘tiles’ can embody Darwinian evolution, raising new possibilities for understanding natural selection and materials development
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ResearchGlassware found to promote reactions in Miller–Urey 'primordial soup' experiment
By running their famous 1952 experiment in glass flasks, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey might have unintentionally simulated the role of rocks on early Earth
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ResearchUltraphosphates break decades-old anti-branching rule
Discovery of elusive branched phosphates’ unexpected stability means they could have played a role in prebiotic chemistry
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ResearchAdding constraints to understand life’s chemical origins
Matt Powner wants to know if there are chemical rules that govern why certain synthetic strategies are embedded in biology
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ResearchLightning may have created essential building blocks for life on Earth
Reduced phosphorus material discovered in geological sample offers insight into life’s origins
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ResearchMission accomplished for scientist who set out to bring astrobiology to Portugal
Zita Martins discusses her work searching for molecules related to the origin of life
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ResearchSteroid fossilisation discovery opens new chapter in debate around oldest animal
Are the biomolecules found in 635-million-year-old rocks the earliest evidence of animal life or just plant remnants?
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ResearchAlgorithm discovers how six simple molecules could evolve into life’s building blocks
Program shows how micelles, catalysts and self-replicating chemical systems emerge from abiotic precursors
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FeatureUnnatural selection in chemical systems
Great strides have been made in the lab with chemical systems that ape life’s behaviour
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ResearchSimple lipid networks combine self-assembly, replication, competition and inhibition
Artificial cells have previously lacked the complexity that is distinct to natural life but scientists are edging closer
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ResearchSelf-replicating molecules show signs of metabolism for the first time
Chemical system combines two of life’s three essential features making it one of the most lifelike yet
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OpinionMaking light of bioluminescence
Glowing may be a side-effect of a very different original purpose
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ResearchMystery of where early Earth’s life-fuelling phosphates came from may have been solved
Meteorites have been source of building blocks for primordial life
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ResearchChemical stimulus used to trigger synthetic cell division
Mother vesicle that divides into two smaller daughter vesicles could be a plausible model of primitive cells
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ResearchComputer says no to membrane-bound life on Titan
Scientists quash inside–out cell membrane theory but don’t completely rule out possibility of life on cryogenic liquid hydrocarbon worlds
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ResearchUnified synthesis shows how genetic alphabet could have been put together on early Earth
Cycles of wet and then dry conditions provide the right conditions to make all the nucleobases from basic chemicals