All Origins of life articles
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ResearchVolcanoes and meteorites may have delivered catalysts for life’s beginning
Iron-rich nanoparticles can catalyse conversion of CO2 to complex organic molecules
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Feature
The messy chemistry that led to life
To understand how chemistry became biology, some chemists are eschewing simple reactions to study complex systems with many reactants and products. Rachel Brazil peers through the tangle
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Research
Mechanochemically accelerated sublimations used to separate chiral molecules
New technique combines ball milling with NMR to monitor sublimations in real time
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Research
RNA building block uracil recovered from near-Earth asteroid Ryugu
Japanese mission returns pristine sample to bolster idea that prebiotic chemicals could have been delivered by meteorites
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Research
Zircon study prompts redox state rethink surrounding hydrothermal pools thought to harbour life’s first molecules
Research combining experiments with modelling suggests hydrothermal fluid was 30% as saline as sea water today and more oxidised than the surrounding mantle
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Opinion
Cracking codons
Understanding how chemistry links RNA triplets to the properties of amino acids
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Opinion
From prebiotic soup to fine-grained RNA world
Theories about how life emerged need to be closely attuned to conditions on the early Earth
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Opinion
Is there a natural order in which complex objects appear?
Assembly theory suggests there might be
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Research
Life’s handedness could have arisen spontaneously on Earth
New insight into the origins of homochirality point to adaptation to energy sources as driver
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Research
Freeze–thaw cycles could explain how ancient RNA replicated without enzymes
Discovery solves puzzle of RNA world hypothesis
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Feature
How protocells bridge the gap from chemistry to biology
Rachel Brazil talks to the scientists trying to recreate what the first cells were like, or to make their own versions
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Opinion
Ned Seeman’s legacy
A system based on DNA ‘tiles’ can embody Darwinian evolution, raising new possibilities for understanding natural selection and materials development
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Research
Glassware found to promote reactions in Miller–Urey 'primordial soup' experiment
By running their famous 1952 experiment in glass flasks, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey might have unintentionally simulated the role of rocks on early Earth
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Research
Ultraphosphates break decades-old anti-branching rule
Discovery of elusive branched phosphates’ unexpected stability means they could have played a role in prebiotic chemistry
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Research
Adding constraints to understand life’s chemical origins
Matt Powner wants to know if there are chemical rules that govern why certain synthetic strategies are embedded in biology
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Research
Lightning may have created essential building blocks for life on Earth
Reduced phosphorus material discovered in geological sample offers insight into life’s origins
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Research
Mission accomplished for scientist who set out to bring astrobiology to Portugal
Zita Martins discusses her work searching for molecules related to the origin of life
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Research
Steroid fossilisation discovery opens new chapter in debate around oldest animal
Are the biomolecules found in 635-million-year-old rocks the earliest evidence of animal life or just plant remnants?
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Research
Algorithm discovers how six simple molecules could evolve into life’s building blocks
Program shows how micelles, catalysts and self-replicating chemical systems emerge from abiotic precursors
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Feature
Unnatural selection in chemical systems
Great strides have been made in the lab with chemical systems that ape life’s behaviour
