Our limited understanding of the metabolism of our microbial ancestor is a sizeable gap in our knowledge of how complex life originated. Resolving whether our closest microbial relatives had ...

A prehistoric Equisetum horsetail plant that survived 400 million years produces oxygen isotopes and water with an extreme chemical signature ...

By reconstructing ancient nitrogen-processing enzymes, scientists are uncovering new clues about how early life survived on a very different Earth.

For decades, scientists have believed that complex life began when two very different microbes joined forces, eventually giving rise to plants, animals, and fungi. But one major puzzle remained: how ...