The most widely accepted scientific explanation for the arrival of all complex life on Earth has had an unsolved mystery at its heart. According to the theory, all plants, animals and fungi, known ...

For decades, scientists have believed that complex life began when two very different microbes joined forces, eventually ...

In a scientific twist that blends cutting-edge genomics with Norse mythology, researchers have identified the closest microbial relatives of all complex life on Earth, including humans. The discovery ...

Maddy has a degree in biochemistry from the University of York and specializes in reporting on health, medicine, and genetics. Maddy has a degree in biochemistry from the University of York and ...

Who were our earliest ancestors? The answer could lie in a special group of single-celled organisms with a cytoskeleton similar to that of complex organisms, such as animals and plants. Ten years ago, ...

Scientists unlock secrets of how the third form of life makes energy. An international scientific team has redefined our understanding of archaea, a microbial ancestor to humans from two billion years ...

In many submerged regions, murky mud shelters strange life-forms that seem to be the key to one of the biggest mysteries of life on Earth. These creatures belong to a domain of life called the archaea ...

A team led by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin has produced what may be the strongest evidence yet that the ...

Following the drive to understand and control bacteria, it’s becoming clear that our methods have changed the very organisms we aim to understand, increasing resistance to tried-and-true antimicrobial ...