Maybe the first life on Earth was part of an 'RNA world.' Artur Plawgo/Science Photo Library via Getty Images How life on Earth started has puzzled scientists for a long time. And it still does.

Ben Woodcroft receives funding from the ARC. Adrián A. Davín does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has ...

The origins of life on Earth have long fascinated scientists, particularly the nature of the last universal common ancestor ...

Four billion years ago, Earth was violent, hot, and unstable. Yet new research suggests that by then, life had already ...

Bacteria may have adapted to oxygen well before Earth’s atmosphere was saturated with it, according to a new study. Researchers who traced microbial evolution over billions of years – using machine ...

Billions of years ago, Earth’s atmosphere was hostile, with barely any oxygen and toxic conditions for life. Researchers from the Earth-Life Science Institute studied Japan’s iron-rich hot springs, ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. We’ve pieced together a remarkably detailed timeline of ...

Bacteria, among the oldest of life forms, have lived in seemingly every possible habitat on the planet, from ocean trenches and mountaintops to hot springs and polar ice. Yet, they have left a limited ...

Gut bacteria rapidly adapt to processed food additives, revealing how modern diets can reshape microbial evolution worldwide.