Explore the history of life on Earth, from 3.5-billion-year-old fossils to the vast diversity of species on our planet today.

Researchers recreated conditions from billions of years ago and found that Earth’s young atmosphere could make key molecules linked to life. These sulfur-rich compounds, including certain amino acids, ...

For decades, scientists believed that a vast stretch of Earth’s early history unfolded under stable and uneventful conditions. That assumption is now being challenged by an extraordinary discovery ...

Earth’s atmosphere might have contributed to the origin of life more than previously thought. In a study published Dec. 1 in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences," CU Boulder ...

We know Earth formed roughly 4.54 billion years ago and that the first single cell lifeforms were present roughly 1 billion years after that. What we don’t know is what triggered the process that ...

Billions of years ago, Earth’s atmosphere was hostile, with barely any oxygen and toxic conditions for life. Researchers from the Earth-Life Science Institute studied Japan’s iron-rich hot springs, ...

How did life begin on Earth? While scientists have theories, they don't yet fully understand the precise chemical steps that led to biology, or when the first primitive life forms appeared. But what ...

The appearance of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere was a turning point in the history of our planet, forever transforming the environment and setting the stage for complex life. This event, known as the ...