The new plot twist is that in order to keep enough nitrogen and phosphorus near its surface, a planet has to start out with ...

Ancient enzymes show life’s nitrogen signal stayed unchanged for billions of years, helping scientists read early Earth.

Life on Earth may exist thanks to an incredible stroke of luck — a chemical sweet spot that most planets miss during their ...

The experts can use these findings in their search for life on exoplanets with similar chemical profiles.

For life to develop on a planet, certain chemical elements are needed in sufficient quantities. Phosphorus and nitrogen are ...

Life on Earth rests on a knife-edge of chemistry that could easily have tipped the other way. As geochemists reconstruct the ...

As the climate crisis becomes a part of daily life with unprecedented heat waves and cold snaps, technology to effectively remove greenhouse gases is emerging as a critical global challenge. In ...

Earth’s habitability may trace back to a precise chemical balance during its formation, one that kept life-critical elements from disappearing into the core or drifting into space.

Scientists reinvent Edison's battery with faster charging and longer durability.

Some of Earth’s earliest microbes evolved the ability to use oxygen hundreds of millions of years before it accumulated in ...

Earth’s magnetic field and atmospheric oxygen appear to have moved in sync for half a billion years, pointing to a surprising connection between the planet’s deep interior and life-supporting ...

Oxygen fills the air today, but for most of Earth’s early history it barely existed. Scientists say the atmosphere did not hold steady oxygen until about 2.33 billion years ago, during the Great ...