About 4 billion years ago, Earth began to show signs of the conditions that allowed the first cells to take hold and populate ...

Life on Earth had to begin somewhere, and scientists think that “somewhere” is LUCA—or the Last Universal Common Ancestor.

Earth’s earliest forms of life ... After the end of the Neoproterozoic came the rise of more complex life, with the first appearance of marine creatures sporting armor, shells and spikes.

Single-celled organisms that group together can generate stronger water currents to pull in food, a benefit that may have ...

The microorganisms that live near such plumes have led some scientists to suggest them as the birthplaces of Earth’s first life forms. Organic molecules ... published research showing that complex ...

But real lightning would have struck infrequently—and mostly in open ocean, where organic compounds would have quickly ...

As microorganisms capable of photosynthesis became more prevalent, the rate at which carbon dioxide was converted into oxygen also increased. This new abundance of oxygen paved the way for complex ...

To recreate a scenario that may have produced Earth’s first organic molecules ... and form more complex molecules, eventually leading to the evolution of life. “Microdischarges between ...

Now, scientists say those prehistoric glaciers bulldozed the Earth’s surface and paved the way for complex life to emerge, according to new study published in February in the journal Geology.