Origins of life

Researchers have discovered that simple “chemically active” droplets grow to the size of cells and spontaneously divide, suggesting they might have evolved into the first living cells.

Insights about time’s arrow from a liquid crystal universe.

What insights can an LCD display give us about time's arrow?

An RNA molecule that can make copies of a variety of RNAs adds new support to the RNA-world theory.

When life first emerged roughly 4 billion years ago, DNA may have been a much more malleable molecule.

Figuring out how these molecules form in the deep recesses of interstellar space might illuminate the origins of one of life’s distinguishing features.

The biologist David Deamer proposes that life evolved from a collection of interacting molecules, probably in a pool in the shadow of a volcano.

Perhaps chemistry played a more instrumental role in the origin of life than scientists thought.

Searching for signs of life on faraway planets, astrobiologists must decide which telltale biosignature gases to target.