origin of life

Study pinpoints when early Earth could first support life’s chemistry

Earth's crust may have become stable enough to support the chemistry that preceded life around 4.33 billion years ago, according to a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications. The research, led by Oleg Abramov of the Planetary Science Institute in…

Study finds life on Earth may have arisen twice

The first free-living cells on Earth may not have emerged in a single event. Instead, bacteria and archaea — the two primordial lineages of life — appear to have independently crossed the threshold from non-living chemistry to living organisms, according…