Two simple molecules can react to form most of the intermediates in an analog of the modern-day Krebs cycle, without the need for enzymes or metals, according to a new study (Nat. Chem. 2020, DOI: ...

IF WE want to understand the nature of life, we have to think about the flow of energy and matter. So argues biochemist and writer Nick Lane in his new book Transformer. Quoting the poem Like Most ...

Enzymes catalyze the critical chemical reactions that help build and power living organisms. But chemists studying the origin of life on Earth face a vexing question: How did these metabolic reactions ...

Metabolism is a key process in living things that enables fuel to be turned into energy, but its evolutionary origin is a long-standing enigma. Now, a study by US researchers has found a simple ...

A set of biochemical processes crucial to cellular life on Earth could have originated in chemical reactions taking place on the early Earth four billion years ago, believes a group of scientists. A ...

Scientists think about 3.8 billion years ago, a cocktail of organic compounds managed to come together in some way to create the first life. We know it was primitive and dumb, but still — it was life!