Stromatolites—and their close relatives, microbial mats—could be mistaken for what seems like a bunch of old dark rocks. But ...

A new study has captured atomic-resolution snapshots of a brown recluse spider toxin latched onto cell-membrane lipids, ...

A mysterious microbe may link all life on Earth, and new research suggests it emerged far earlier, in a chaotic world once ...

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: The first eukaryotes—the cells that form complex life—likely originated when two microscopic entities merged via a process called endosymbiosis, ...

The first time that University of Oxford astronomer Lyla Jung saw the cosmic configuration on her monitor, she almost didn’t believe it was real. But it was—and Jung and her colleagues went on to ...

Deep inside Earth, two massive hot rock structures have been quietly shaping the planet’s magnetic field for millions of years. Using ancient magnetic records and advanced simulations, scientists ...

The origin of life on Earth becomes even more fascinating and complex as we peer into the mysterious world of viruses. Said to have existed since living cells first appeared, these microscopic ...

"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: Life on Earth had to begin somewhere, and scientists ...

In many submerged regions, murky mud shelters strange life-forms that seem to be the key to one of the biggest mysteries of life on Earth. These creatures belong to a domain of life called the archaea ...

Complex life began to develop earlier, and over a longer span of time, than previously believed, a new study has revealed. The research sheds new light on the conditions needed for early organisms to ...

Complex life may have started its rise in Earth’s oxygen-free oceans nearly a billion years earlier than anyone imagined. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.com New research indicates that ...

Elevated manganese (Mn) concentrations in drinking water reservoirs present challenges for raw water treatment. During thermal stratification, a shift from oxic to anoxic conditions at the ...