It may seem easy to distinguish whether something is alive or not. You are alive, as is your teacher, and the trees you see on your way to school. Your desk and chair are not alive, and neither are ...

A team of researchers studied the properties of membranes to understand how these cellular structures influenced the chemistry of life on Earth as it began. How life arose remains a looming question ...

At some point during the evolution of life on Earth, inorganic matter became organic, nonliving matter became living. How this happened is one of humankind's greatest mysteries. Today, scientists work ...

Evidence is mounting that the same basic chemistry that made Earth habitable is unfolding, or once unfolded, on Mars. From complex organics to minerals linked with microbial activity, the Red Planet ...