Origins of life – Page 3
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ResearchUnified synthesis shows how genetic alphabet could have been put together on early Earth
Cycles of wet and then dry conditions provide the right conditions to make all the nucleobases from basic chemicals
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ResearchWhy does all life use the same 20 amino acids?
Chemical properties offer an answer to why nature limits itself to so few protein building blocks
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ResearchBubbly beginnings for life's first molecules
Gas bubble simulations support the idea that life began in hydrothermal vents
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ResearchMicrodroplets’ chemical wizardry could have given life a helping hand
Droplet reduction may shed light on puzzles of the prebiotic era and offer a new way to do green chemistry
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ResearchResurrected enzyme aces cellulose catalysis
Protein that survived extreme conditions on early Earth could be a boon for biofuel industry
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ResearchImpact of extra-terrestrial glycine delivery could have created nucleobase precursors
Quantum simulations show that comets and other celestial bodies may have not only delivered building blocks for life to Earth, but also synthesised them on impact
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ResearchMineral surfaces promoted variation in prebiotic RNA
Thermodynamic model probes the entropic cost of enriching RNA strands adsorbed on a surface
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ResearchEight-letter genetic code hints at how alien life might evolve
Synthetic DNA shows that four bases might not be the only way for life to go
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ResearchSynthetic molecules fold up into abiotic proteins
Compound that self-assembles into giant folded ring could help scientists design bespoke abiotic proteins
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OpinionChiral curiosities
The challenges posed by asymmetry go hand in hand with fascinating insights into developmental biology
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ResearchDNA sugar could form on icy asteroids and comets
Water–methanol ices bombarded with UV simulate conditions found on comets and asteroids
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ResearchSurface chemistry for biological questions
Rasmita Raval discusses her career exploring the complex behaviour of molecule–surface systems and what it has to do with antibiotic resistance and the origin of life
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ResearchEvidence emerges from the deep of Earth's first amino acids
Geochemical processes shows how buildings blocks for life on Earth may have been synthesised
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ResearchBiomarker evidence that Dickinsonia were first animals
Analysis places unusual ovular organism on multicellular branch of phylogenetic tree
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ResearchBubbly protocells bob up and down
Enzymes inflate or consume oxygen bubbles making clay capsules float and sink reversibly
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ResearchChemical analysis adds to evidence for early microfossils
Well-preserved samples enable examination of intact microstructures rather than powdered material
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ResearchPrebiotically plausible version of pH gradient generating catalyst
Scientists create simple metal ion system could have facilitated early metabolic processes, like ATP synthesis
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ResearchParasitic self-replicating molecules consume their creators
Simple chemicals display life-like behaviour