The origin of life is one of the most fundamental and enduring questions of mankind and one of the three greatest Origin ...

A mass extinction event wiped out around 90% of life. What followed has long puzzled scientists: The planet became lethally ...

During Earth's ancient Snowball periods, when the entire planet was wrapped in ice, life may have endured in tiny meltwater ...

Micrometeorites are thought to shower down on planets throughout the universe, so the discovery that they help protocells ...

Scientists agreed the rocky outcrops in a remote part of Quebec, Canada, were ancient. But were they really Earth’s oldest?

Earth's earliest life forms developed ways to survive the harmful effects of arsenic to cope with dramatic changes in their ...

Two life forms living together helped spark the evolution of all complex life. By learning to appreciate this process more ...

The slightly warmer temperatures around the middle of the Earth melted the top layers of ice to form meltwater ponds that hovered around 0°C. This stable, warmer temperature could have served as a ...

Wave-like landforms on Mars provide clues about the planet’s icy history, its potential to support life, and the behavior of ...

Modern-day environments in Antarctica contain ponds filled with life forms that closely resemble early multicellular ...

Strata: Stories from Deep Time’ explores the origins of the air we breathe and untangles some of our planet’s oldest stories.

How did complex life survive when Earth was frozen over? Scientists say tiny meltwater ponds on ancient ice may have been the ...