A few scientists have argued that descendants of an alternative origin of life may still lurk in a "shadow biosphere" somewhere here on Earth. It's an intriguing idea, but the search for the shadow inhabitants is becoming ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 16, 2012
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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 likely.
Biochemistry
Jan 19, 2012
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(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.
Earth Sciences
Sep 2, 2011
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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 Exploration
Aug 8, 2011
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Someday a future intelligent organism could sweep away a million years of dust and find the bones of a Homo sapiens and wonder what he was.
Archaeology
Mar 21, 2011
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Particle size has a far more dramatic impact on chemical reactivity than previously thought, according to new research from UC Davis. The results have implications for understanding a wide range of vital ...
Materials Science
Oct 12, 2010
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(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.
Biochemistry
Oct 4, 2010
1
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With a bit of luck and a new space telescope, within five years we could know the answer to a question that humanity has pondered for millennia: Is there life beyond Earth?
Space Exploration
Sep 17, 2010
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One of the big, unsolved problems in explaining how life arose on Earth is a chicken-and-egg paradox: How could the basic biochemicals -- such as amino acids and nucleotides -- have arisen before the biological catalysts ...
Biochemistry
Sep 3, 2010
7
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Researchers at the University of Leeds have uncovered new clues to the origins of life on Earth.
Biochemistry
May 25, 2010
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