Origins

New discovery may validate theories of the formation of organic compounds in extraterrestrial environments.

A theory, called "panspermia", supports the possibility that microbes may migrate between planets and distribute life in the universe.

For much of its existence, Earth has been inhabited. But if researchers remotely analyzed the atmosphere of that young Earth, they might have missed the evidence for life.

To help answer one of the great existential questions - how did life begin? - a new study combines biological and cosmological models. It reveals life in the universe could be common, but not in our neighborhood

Research team explores how fundamental features of genome affects organism's ability to thrive in an extreme environment on Earth and beyond.

Research has revealed the existence of an "emotionotopic" mapping in the right temporo-parietal territories of the brain, associated to the emotional experience elicited by watching the Forrest Gump movie.

Detection of ammonium salts may be a further indication that comet impacts may have made life on Earth possible.

Astronomers have identified where molecules containing phosphorus form, how this element is carried in comets, and how a particular molecule may have played a crucial role in starting life on our planet.

Sulfur chemistry was vital for early anaerobic life in the Archean eon, over 2.5 billion years ago

By creating protocells in hot, alkaline seawater, a UCL-led research team has added to evidence that the origin of life could have been in deep-sea hydrothermal vents rather than shallow pools.