The discovery kick-started a quest within chemistry and biology to devise experiments that could help answer one of the biggest scientific questions facing humanity: How did life on Earth begin?

Related Stories Scientists discover how life on Earth began 1.75 billion years ago All life on Earth originated from a single common ancestor millions of years ago Life on Earth may have come from ...

In a new peer reviewed analysis, scientists quantify amino acids before and after our “last universal common ancestor.” The ...

Life is ancient – it emerged on Earth about four billion years ago. We consider how it began and whether we might find life elsewhere. Video by Thomas Lewton Animation by Charity Atukunda Whilst ...

Challenge students to the evidence that we have for how life began on Earth. Challenge them to order the evidence as to what they find the most persuasive and why. This clip will be relevant for ...

Earth ejecta, for instance, could hold Earth life.

Researchers have innovatively merged protein structural data with genetic sequences to construct evolutionary trees, ...

For example, zircons are simple silicate crystals that date back to the time before life started. A zircon found in Australia is the oldest known piece of Earth’s crust. But other minerals, such as ...

All life on Earth is made of complex organic molecules ... Most scientists think that everything that we know and experience began with the Big Bang, 14 billion years ago. But how can we have ...

Additionally, it’s another clue in understanding how life started on Earth. Asteroid belt. Image by Juric.P via Depositphotos. Meteorite impacts may have provided the energy needed to kickstart ...