Scientists glimpse why life can't happen without water
Scientists are getting closer to directly observing how and why water is essential to life as we know it.
Biochemistry
Jun 20, 2016
7
1557
News tagged with acid molecules
Chemists offer more evidence of RNA as the origin of life
(Phys.org)—A team of chemists at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich has shown how the purines adenine and guanine can be synthesized easily and in reasonable yields, offering more evidence that RNA could have served ...
Scientists discover new 'origins of life' chemical reactions
Four billion years ago, the Earth looked very different than it does today, devoid of life and covered by a vast ocean. Over the course of millions of years, in that primordial soup, life emerged. Researchers have long theorized ...
Biochemistry
Jul 28, 2022
8
2232
Researchers open new possibilities for characterizing nanoparticle interactions
(Phys.org) —Molecules anchored to the surfaces of nanoparticles modify and even control many characteristics of the particles, including how they interact with cells or react to light. The type of binding affects the nanoparticle's ...
Bio & Medicine
Dec 24, 2013
0
0
Evolution reveals missing link between DNA and protein shape
Fifty years after the pioneering discovery that a protein's three-dimensional structure is determined solely by the sequence of its amino acids, an international team of researchers has taken a major step toward fulfilling ...
Biotechnology
Dec 7, 2011
12
0
Building blocks of life found in meteorite that crash landed in Gloucestershire
New research has been published on the organic analysis of the Winchcombe meteorite that crash landed onto a driveway in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire in 2021. The research, led by Dr. Queenie Chan, from the Department of Earth ...
Planetary Sciences
Jan 10, 2023
0
6446
Simpler times: Did an earlier genetic molecule predate DNA and RNA?
(PhysOrg.com) -- In the chemistry of the living world, a pair of nucleic acids—DNA and RNA—reign supreme. As carrier molecules of the genetic code, they provide all organisms with a mechanism for faithfully reproducing ...
Biochemistry
Jan 9, 2012
117
0
New organic compounds found in Enceladus ice grains
New kinds of organic compounds, the ingredients of amino acids, have been detected in the plumes bursting from Saturn's moon Enceladus. The findings are the result of the ongoing deep dive into data from NASA's Cassini mission.
Astronomy
Oct 2, 2019
6
1147
Origins of life: new evidence first cells could have formed at the bottom of the ocean
Where did life come from? In recent years, many scientists have shifted from favouring a "primordial soup" in pools of water to hydrothermal vents deep in the ocean as the original source of life on Earth. But one of the ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 7, 2019
0
56
New, highly stable catalyst may help turn water into fuel
Breaking the bonds between oxygen and hydrogen in water could be a key to the creation of hydrogen in a sustainable manner, but finding an economically viable technique for this has proved difficult. Researchers report a ...
Materials Science
Sep 28, 2018
15
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