Chemists show life on Earth was not a fluke

How life came about from inanimate sets of chemicals is still a mystery. While we may never be certain which chemicals existed on prebiotic Earth, we can study the biomolecules we have today to give us clues about what happened ...

Pee power: Urine-loving bug churns out space fuel

Scientists on Sunday said they had gained insights into a remarkable bacterium that lives without oxygen and transforms ammonium, the ingredient of urine, into hydrazine, a rocket fuel.

Brilliant iron molecule could provide cheaper solar energy

For the first time, researchers have succeeded in creating an iron molecule that can function both as a photocatalyst to produce fuel and in solar cells to produce electricity. The results indicate that the iron molecule ...

Exploring the self-organizing origins of life

Catalytic molecules can form metabolically active clusters by creating and following concentration gradients—this is the result of a new study by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization ...

Unlocking nature's quantum engineering for efficient solar energy

(Phys.org)—Quantum scale photosynthesis in biological systems which inhabit extreme environments could hold key to new designs for solar energy and nanoscale devices. Certain biological systems living in low light environments ...

Organic compounds found in proto-planetary disks

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study from scientists in the US has reported that organic compounds could be formed in proto-planetary disks, and could have seeded the development of life in our own and other planetary systems.

Xenacoelomorpha -- a new phylum in the animal kingdom

An international team of scientists including Albert Poustka from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin has discovered that Xenoturbellida and the acoelomorph worms, both simple marine worms, are more ...

page 1 from 14