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Life

We’re getting close to recreating the first step in evolution of life

Life is thought to have begun when RNA began replicating itself, and researchers have got close to achieving this in the lab

News

Life

Strange microbes give clues to the ancestor of all complex life

News

Can a strange state of matter explain what life is – and how it began?

Life

Can a strange state of matter explain what life is – and how it began?

Features

Life

The surprising new idea behind what sparked life on Earth

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The Taurus molecular cloud

Space

Complex form of carbon spotted outside solar system for first time

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Illustration of asteroids with geysers

Space

Freeze-thaw cycle helps asteroids ferry molecules of life to planets

News

A colourised, microscopic image of a 4.4 billion-year-old zircon

Life

We now know that life began on Earth much earlier than we thought

Comment

2DE140D Rover on Mars

Life

Top astrobiologist explores the possibilities of alien life

Culture

Life

Has the mystery of life’s 'handedness' finally been cracked?

News

Donald Johanson excavating Lucy

Video

Donald Johanson: Unearthing Lucy changed my life and the world

This year marks half a century since the discovery of Lucy, a hominid fossil that would go on to drastically alter our understanding of human evolution. The man who unearthed her, Donald Johanson, shares more about the momentous excavation and the legacy it has left.

Video

Life

Oldest rocks on Earth may contain strange and ancient life forms

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Life

Last common ancestor of all life emerged far earlier than thought

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Technology

Google creates self-replicating life from digital 'primordial soup'

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Life

Protocells on early Earth may have been formed by squeezing geysers

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