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origins of life

An illustration of the early surface of Earth with a volcano erupting in the background.

Life

How we will discover the mysterious origins of life once and for all

Seventy years ago, three discoveries propelled our understanding of how life on Earth began. But has the biggest clue to life's origins been staring biologists in the face all along?

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A mitochondrion

Life

Ocean bacteria may be closest relatives of mitochondria in our cells

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Mars

Space

Mars used to have wet and dry seasons similar to ones on Earth

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Life

How a radical redefinition of life could help us find aliens

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Life

1.6-billion-year-old steroids may be traces of earliest complex life

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Unicellular green algae with large cells.; Shutterstock ID 1042159933; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Life

Why the origins of life remain a mystery – and how we will crack it

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Earth

Oxygen on early Earth may have come from quartz crushed by earthquakes

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The Murchison meteorite

Chemistry

Building blocks for life may be able to form in radioactive meteorites

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Dark blue ocean surface seen from underwater. Waves underwater and rays of sunlight shining through

Life

Experiments hint at how molecules essential to all life first arose

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Illustration of a ribosome

Life

Self-replicating protein factories are a step towards artificial life

Ribosomes, tiny structures where proteins are produced inside cells, have been made to self-replicate outside cells for the first time, which could help us understand the origins of life

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Physics

Is life the result of the laws of entropy?

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Life

Why is the universe just right for life? Blame the multiverse

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Humans

Why do we exist? The meaning of life isn’t to be found in the stars

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Life

Glass flask catalysed famous Miller-Urey origin-of-life experiment

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