Origins of life – Page 5
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OpinionWhat's the point of synthesising the human genome?
A plan to build our genome from scratch should be challenged on its scientific merit, not whether it is creating life, argues Philip Ball
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OpinionHow game theory could explain complex life
Philip Ball asks if the building blocks of life benefit from cooperation
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ResearchMeteorite compounds hint at origins of life’s asymmetry
Excess of right handed sugar derivatives found on meteorites suggests homochirality may have come from space
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ResearchAdenine and guanine synthesised using prebiotic pathway
Two of the nucleotide bases that make up genetic material have been formed in early Earth simulation experiments
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ResearchBroken ribozyme comes to life
Low temperatures on early Earth may have helped RNA world organisms emerge
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ResearchBuilding blocks of life made in space ice simulations
Complex sugars – including the ‘backbone’ of RNA – have been created in lab-made interstellar ice
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ResearchLifting molecular brake may have kept primeval cells running
Removing RNA restriction can steady biochemical function, with relevance for life’s emergence
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PodcastChemistry World podcast – December 2015
This month, we learn how to leave the calories out of fine chocolate, and discover the earth might be older than we thought
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FeatureThe origin of homochirality
Why do so many biological molecules exist in just one chirality – and how did it emerge? Rachel Brazil reflects on life’s strange asymmetry
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ResearchAncient graphite may push start of life back by 300 million years
Discovery of biologically forged carbon could rewrite textbooks on the earliest organisms
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Research‘Chemical search engine’ backs alternative route to life
Spontaneous peptide formation conditions found using automated system
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ResearchStudy probes role of chemical corruption in origin of life
Researchers deliberately embrace defective chemistry to paint more realistic prebiotic picture
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ResearchPeptide glue may have held first protocell components together
Association between RNA and primitive membranes 4 billion years ago thought to have kick-started life could have been mediated by peptides
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ResearchIron found in ancient rock is recycled from bacteria
Isotopic analysis suggests iron in banded rock formations can be traced back to ancient bacteria
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ResearchAncient RNA enzymes formed from freeze-thaw cycles
Temperature cycles help small pieces of RNA assemble into complex ribozymes
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ResearchChemicals formed on meteorites may have started life on Earth
Simple chemical turned into DNA bases and other precursors to life on simulated meteorite surface
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ResearchReaction map suggests meteorite chemistry route to life
Scientists propose that key biomolecules appeared simultaneously from a hellish cyanide and sulfide mix
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Research‘Early RNA’ reactions characterised
Enzyme-free linking of nucleotides suggests possible route for the synthesis of ancient RNA