Researchers demonstrated how amino acids could spontaneously attach to RNA under early Earth-like conditions using thioesters, providing a long-sought clue to the origins of protein synthesis. This ...

For decades, scientists have chased a mystery about how proteins’ building blocks first hooked up with RNA, the molecule carrying life’s code. Now, a team of chemists at University College London (UCL ...

Atlanta—ACS Spring 2026, a meeting of the American Chemical Society, began with a flurry of talks early Sunday morning. During a session hosted by the Division of Biochemistry and Chemical Biology ...

Chemists say they have solved a crucial problem in a theory of life’s beginnings, by demonstrating that RNA molecules can link short chains of amino acids together. The findings, published on 11 May ...

More than four billion years ago, Earth was a very different place. Pools of water froze and thawed in cycles, minerals shaped reactions, and molecules bumped into each other by chance. Out of this ...

Life uses 20 amino acid building blocks, from which proteins are assembled. Although limiting the number to 20 building blocks allows for a wide variety of protein structures and functions, it also ...

Scientists may have discovered a reaction that provides the “missing link” to help explain how early life formed on Earth about 4 billion years ago. All living things contain ribonucleic acid, ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. For decades, scientists have chased a mystery about how proteins’ building blocks first hooked up with RNA, the molecule carrying ...