Life

Scientists have discovered a completely new branch on the tree of life. This “supergroup” contains an incredibly diverse range of predatory microbes that are extremely different genetically from any other form of life on Earth.

The record for world’s oldest surviving DNA has been shattered. An international team of scientists has discovered DNA dating back 2 million years, preserved in Ice Age sediment that captures an entire ecosystem of known – and unknown – lifeforms.

Japanese scientists have engineered the smallest lifeform that can move on its own. The team introduced bacterial proteins that enable movement into a simple synthetic bacterium that normally cannot move, causing it to change shape and become mobile.

The remains of the oldest meal on record have been identified. In half-billion-year-old fossils of a strange slug-like creature called Kimberella, scientists found preserved food molecules in the gut, revealing what and how these ancient animals ate.

It's thought the Earth is currently entering its sixth major extinction event, but a new study suggests it may actually be the seventh. Scientists have found evidence of a previously unknown mass extinction event that struck half a billion years ago.

Humans might not be the first lifeforms to face self-induced climate change. A new model suggests Mars was once habitable enough to support microbes, and they may have wiped themselves out by causing irreparable damage to the Red Planet’s atmosphere.

The James Webb Space Telescope has clearly detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet for the first time. The find marks a milestone for the telescope’s goal of analyzing the air of distant planets to aid the search for alien life.

Exactly how non-living molecules sparked life is one of the most puzzling mysteries of science. Scientists have now discovered chemical reactions that can produce the building blocks of life out of materials common in early Earth's primordial soup.

Planning an extra hour in the gym to counteract the effects of that doughnut in the morning? Think again. According to new research from the University of Sydney, high levels of exercise cannot offset the damaging effects of poor dietary choices.

The discovery of extraterrestrial life is most likely to come from tiny fossils on Mars. To aid that search, scientists have developed a portable device called the Biofinder that can highlight organic residue in fossils tens of millions of years old.

Scientists debate whether or not there’s life on Venus. A new Cambridge study has analyzed the Venusian atmosphere and found no sign of the chemical fingerprints microbes would be expected to produce – but it doesn’t rule out life on similar planets.

Scientists have created new artificial microbes by combining two very different organisms into one functioning entity. The hybrid of a yeast and a bacterium adds evidence to a long-standing hypothesis on how advanced life may have evolved.