Learning about the past is usually easier than predicting the future, but deciphering the earliest history of life on Earth seems to be an exception to the rule. Of course, we're not entirely in the ...

This video looks at leading scientific ideas about the origins of life, from early chemistry on ancient Earth to ongoing research that helps explain how living systems may have emerged.

Asteroid impacts may have helped kick-start life on Earth by creating hot, chemical-rich environments ideal for early biology. These impact-generated hydrothermal systems could have lasted thousands ...

Earth may have won a cosmic chemistry lottery. Researchers found that during the planet’s earliest formation, oxygen had to be in an extremely narrow “Goldilocks zone” for two life-essential elements, ...

The colossal movements of tectonic plates shape our world, influencing the composition of Earth’s atmosphere, the planet’s protective magnetic field and perhaps even the flourishing of life. Now ...