Rock peeling off continents may have triggered biggest mass extinction
31 March 2020
The Permian extinction, which wiped out almost all complex life, may have been caused by the undersides of continents slipping off into Earth’s interior
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Premium
First self-replicating molecules may have had just two ingredients
5 March 2020
A mixture of two carbon-based chemicals can spontaneously form molecules that can copy themselves, hinting at how life may have begun on Earth
Biochemistry
31 October 2019
Biochemistry is the study of the chemicals that make up life and how they behave.
Life may have begun with simple genes made out of urine
11 October 2019
Urea, a chemical found in urine, can be used to make simple genetic molecules similar to DNA – which could have been the basis of the first life on Earth
Clever chemistry could make fertiliser with a smaller carbon footprint
24 April 2019
There could finally be a way to make vital agricultural fertiliser without releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases – but will it work on an industrial scale?
New form of gold is much golder than normal gold
29 June 2018
Gold never loses its lustre because it is so chemically unreactive, and now microscopic gold crystals have been made that are even less reactive
H2Oh! 10 mysteries of water
30 May 2018
Water has a host of unusual properties – many of which are essential for life. Here we round up ten of the most peculiar
