A recent study from the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) investigates how polyester microdroplets, potential precursors to modern cells, could form under realistic early Earth conditions. Researchers pushed these conditions to the limits, demonstrating that these protocells can emerge from the polymerisation of alpha-hydroxy acids (αHAs) even at low concentrations/volumes and in salty environments. The findings indicate that polyester protocells were more prevalent than previously thought, potentially forming in environments on early Earth from rock pores to briny pools.

As one of the largest tuberculosis outbreaks in the U.S. unfolds in Kansas, UC San Diego researchers and their colleagues have published research describing the use of artificial intelligence tools to screen for new antimicrobial candidates to treat the disease.

A new study of the Great Barrier Reef has revealed that the network of no-take marine reserves supplies nearly half of the region’s coral trout fishery catch.

Rice University researchers have revealed novel sequence-structure-property relationships for customizing engineered living materials (ELMs), enabling more precise control over their structure and how they respond to deformation forces like stretching or compression.

Sixty-six million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period, an asteroid impact near the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico triggered the extinction of all known non-bird dinosaurs. But for the early ancestors of today’s waterfowl, surviving that mass extinction event was like… water off a duck’s back. Location matters, as Antarctica may have served as a refuge, protected by its distance from the turmoil taking place elsewhere on the planet. Fossil evidence suggests a temperate climate with lush vegetation, possibly serving as an incubator for the earliest members of the group that now includes ducks and geese.