Our planet is unique for its ability to sustain abundant life. From studies of the rock record, scientists believe life had already emerged on Earth at least 3.5 billion years ago and probably much ...

Nitrogen, upon which all life on Earth depends, may hold the key for explaining how early life on the planet evolved and how ...

For more than a century, the idea that life might have arrived on our planet from elsewhere in the cosmos sat at the fringes ...

In high enough doses, hydrogen cyanide can kill an adult human in minutes, but the chemical may be the reason why we’re here ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. NASA astronauts took this ...

Before sunlight ever reached the planet, another force may have sparked life—electricity. Deep beneath the ocean floor, ancient hydrothermal vents might have generated natural electric fields strong ...

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: All life on Earth can be traced back to a Last ...

How did life begin on Earth? While scientists have theories, they don't yet fully understand the precise chemical steps that led to biology, or when the first primitive life forms appeared. But what ...

Exoplanets like Earth have been discovered but not all Earth-like planets are equal when it comes to alien life.

Learn how one-celled organisms, or single-celled organisms, helped build complex life.

A giant impact on the early Earth could have brought the building blocks of RNA to our planet, which new research suggests could have quickly formed in the presence of compounds called borates. When ...