Chemists have discovered a way to use visible light to synthesize a class of compounds particularly well suited for use in pharmaceuticals. The class of compounds, called azetidines, had been ...

Amino acids, the building blocks necessary for life, were previously found in samples of 4.6-billion-year-old rocks from an asteroid called Bennu, delivered to Earth in 2023 by NASA's OSIRIS-REx ...

The latest discovery of nucleotides on an asteroid is making scientists rethink the story of how life got going ...

Challenging long-held assumptions, Aarhus University researchers have demonstrated that the protein building blocks essential for life as we know it can form readily in space. This discovery, ...

A pair of new studies suggest that key steps toward life’s chemistry may begin long before planets exist. Experiments simulating interstellar space show that simple amino acids can link into peptides, ...

Scientists have long queried how the complex molecules needed for life could have formed around the tumultuous and violent environment of the sun in its youth. A family of meteorites called ...

The origin of life on Earth is still enigmatic, but we are slowly unravelling the steps involved and the necessary ingredients. Scientists believe life arose in a primordial soup of organic chemicals ...

Sialic acid is a natural sugar building block found on the surfaces of our cells. It acts as a protective and recognition molecule and plays a central role in the development of the nervous system.