News tagged with origins of life

Honoring the fundamental role of microbes in the natural history of our planet

Inspired by a 2009 colloquium on microbial evolution convened at the Galapagos Islands, a new book from ASM Press, Microbes and Evolution: The World That Darwin Never Saw celebrates Charles Darwin and his landmark publication ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 30, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Meteorite hunt goes on, needs public's help

(Phys.org) -- A University of California, Davis, geologist is appealing for public help in tracking down pieces of the meteorite that blew up over El Dorado County on April 22.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 28, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Studying the evolution of life's building blocks

Studying the origin of life at its building blocks offers a unique perspective on evolution, says a researcher at Michigan State University.

Biology / Evolution

created Feb 19, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

'Wild west' approach to claiming the oceans' genetic resources must end: researchers

New international agreements are required to ensure nations benefit equally from medicines, foods and biofuels derived from the ocean's untapped genetic riches, according to a panel of University of British Columbia and European ...

Biology / Ecology

created Feb 18, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Avalanche of reactions at the origin of life

The origin of life is seen as the formation of the first biomolecules which may be subject to multiplication and further development. Hitherto it was unclear, which reactions could have triggered the evolution of this ur-metabolism. ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jan 19, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 2

A salt-free primordial soup?

Most scientists who study the origin of life assume that it occurred in the ocean. But a minority view is that ions in seawater may interfere with prebiotic chemistry, making a freshwater environment more ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jan 19, 2012 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The interplay of dancing electrons

Negative ions play an important role in everything from how our bodies function to the structure of the universe. Scientists from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have now developed a new method that makes it possible ...

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 29, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Researchers make the case that modern life sprang from early mega-organism

(PhysOrg.com) -- A lot of work has been done over the years to nail down the origins of life, with much speculation given to whatever first bit of “life” appeared from what was before, nothing but non-living material. ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 28, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (21) | comments 9 | with audio podcast weblog

First observation of metamorphosis of an enzyme that catalyzes two chemical reactions

Professor Takayoshi Wakagi and Associate Professor Shinya Fushinobu of the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo and colleagues were the first to clarify how an enzyme ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Nov 15, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Pumice proposed as home to the first life forms: A new hypothesis in Astrobiology journal

The glassy, porous, and once gas-rich rock called pumice may have given rise to early life forms, according to a provocative new hypothesis on the origin of life published in Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journa ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 04, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 5

Rock rafts could be 'cradle of life'

(PhysOrg.com) -- Floating rafts of volcanic pumice could have played a significant role in the origins of life on Earth, scientists from Oxford University and the University of Western Australia have suggested.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Sep 02, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 12 | with audio podcast

Meteorites: Tool kits for creating life on Earth

Meteorites hold a record of the chemicals that existed in the early Solar System and that may have been a crucial source of the organic compounds that gave rise to life on Earth. Since the 1960s, scientists have been trying ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Aug 08, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Meteorite holds clues to organic chemistry of the early Earth: study

(PhysOrg.com) -- Carbonaceous chondrites are a type of organic-rich meteorite that contain samples of the materials that took part in the creation of our planets nearly 4.6 billion years ago, including materials ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jun 09, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Biochemist David Deamer explores how life began in new book, 'First Life'

David Deamer began studying the origin of life in the early 1980s, and his research over the past 30 years has had a major influence on scientific understanding of how life on Earth got started. In his new book, First Life ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jun 02, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Loch fossils show life harnessed sun and sex early on

Remote lochs along the west coast of Scotland are turning up new evidence about the origins of life on land.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Apr 13, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast