Our single-celled ancestor lived in a world without plants, animals or oxygen-rich oceans. Yet, this seemingly simple microorganism took the first steps toward complex life. From this ancestor emerged ...

Scientists are trying to understand how complex life emerged on Earth about 2 billion years ago. Our microbial ancestors could be the key.

Complex cells are thought to be the result of a union between two ancient microorganisms, but scientists have long been stumped over how this unlikely pair came together.

The timeline of terrestrial evolution holds surprises. While scientists thought complex life required oxygen, a recent discovery shows it began forming in oceans deprived of this element, nearly a ...

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

Most days you move through the world without thinking about the invisible creatures that surround you. Yet one of them, a tiny marine organism called Solarion arienae, is quietly reshaping what you ...

The team has proposed a new evidence-based scenario for the emergence of complex life they have called ‘CALM’ - Complex Archaeon, Late Mitochondrion. Complex life began to develop earlier, and over a ...

A giant virus discovered in Japan is adding fuel to the provocative idea that viruses helped create complex life. Named ushikuvirus, it infects amoebae and shows unique traits that connect different ...

A biochemist, building on the pillars of evolutionary theory and drawing on cutting-edge research into the link between energy and genes, argues that the evolution of multicellular life was the result ...

The evolution of intelligent life around red dwarf stars is likely to be an uphill slog, due to the demands needed to jumpstart oxygenic photosynthesis. Given that red M-dwarf stars are by far the ...