(PhysOrg.com) -- Life's ability to replicate itself is essential for evolution, yet even the simplest kind of replication requires a relatively complex system. So what kind of non-replicating system might ...

Chemistry - Biochemistry

Sep 28, 2009 3.9 / 5 (33) 17

(PhysOrg.com) -- Mass extinctions occur repeatedly, though irregularly, throughout Earth’s history, and occasionally these extinctions have been devastating to life on our planet - or have they? Extinction ...

Biology - Evolution

Apr 03, 2009 4.7 / 5 (30) 16

(Phys.org) —Geneticists Richard Gordon of the Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory in Florida and Alexei Sharov of the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore have proposed, in a paper uploaded to the preprint ...

Physics - General Physics

Apr 18, 2013 4 / 5 (115) 116 |

A team of paleontologists has discovered the oldest animal with a skeleton. Called Coronacollina acula, the organism is between 560 million and 550 million years old, which places it in the Ediacaran period ...

Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils

Mar 08, 2012 4.5 / 5 (33) 23 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to the current domain of life, we are familiar with the three branches: bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. However, Jonathan Eisen of UC Davis and his team have published possible ...

Biology - Other

Mar 30, 2011 4.1 / 5 (16) 2 |

A new study shows how complex biochemical transformations may have been possible under conditions that existed when life began on the early Earth. The study shows that RNA is capable of catalyzing electron transfer under ...

Chemistry - Biochemistry

May 19, 2013 5 / 5 (2) 1 |

Researchers in the Evolutionary Bioinformatics Laboratory at the University of Illinois in collaboration with German scientists have been using bioinformatics techniques to probe the world of proteins for answers to questions ...

Biology - Cell & Microbiology

Mar 11, 2013 5 / 5 (5) 3 |

An evolutionary biologist at the University of Manchester, working with scientists in the US, has found compelling evidence that parts of the brain can evolve independently from each other. It's hoped the findings will significantly ...

Biology - Evolution

Sep 26, 2012 4.7 / 5 (3) 0 |

Following one of Earth's five greatest mass extinctions, tiny marine organisms called graptoloids did not begin to rapidly develop new physical traits until about 2 million years after competing species became ...

Biology - Evolution

Feb 13, 2012 5 / 5 (1) 1 |

On "Star Trek, the aliens often look so human that crew members fall in love with them. But in real life, scientists in the field known as astrobiology can't be sure alien life would even be carbon-based like us, or use DNA ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Feb 13, 2012 4.8 / 5 (10) 2

Tidally-locked planets - planets with one side perpetually facing their star while the other remains shrouded in darkness - tend to be warmer on one side than the other. The presence of an atmosphere can help ...

Space & Earth - Space Exploration

Dec 09, 2011 5 / 5 (4) 8 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of scientists led by Montana State University has discovered the "when" of a major event that led to the evolution of complex life on Earth.

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Jun 21, 2011 4.7 / 5 (7) 1 |

Dying young was not likely the reason Neanderthals went extinct, said a study out Monday that suggests early modern humans had about the same life expectancy as their hairier, ancient cousins.

Other Sciences - Archaeology & Fossils

Jan 10, 2011 4.8 / 5 (5) 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- Supercomputer simulations at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are helping scientists unravel how nucleic acids could have contributed to the origins of life.

Chemistry - Biochemistry

Oct 04, 2010 4.8 / 5 (9) 1 |

High school and college students who understand the geological age of the Earth (4.5 billion years) are much more likely to understand and accept human evolution, according to a University of Minnesota study published in ...

Biology - Evolution

Mar 10, 2010 3.8 / 5 (15) 45 |