All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. Imagine packing all ...

Earth’s earliest atmosphere may have done more than shield the planet from the Sun. New research suggests the sky itself helped supply early life with key sulfur-based molecules, long thought to ...

Could a comet from another star system be carrying raw ingredients for life? For the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, recent ...

“The elements are like the alphabet of life. The language of life is created from the right combination of letters or characters.” This is how chemistry professor Chris Chang sees chemical biology, as ...

Surface-bound gels may have offered the structure and chemistry needed for life to take hold on Earth—and possibly elsewhere.

Exactly how life first emerged from non-living matter is one of the most enduring mysteries of science. In a new study, Japanese scientists have created self-replicating protocells in the lab, which ...

Somehow, billions of years ago, a mix of organic molecules formed and started the chemical reactions that became life. In a new study, researchers in Germany propose that tiny air bubbles in water ...

Exactly how non-living molecules sparked into life is one of the most puzzling mysteries of science. Now scientists at Scripps Research have discovered a new set of chemical reactions that can produce ...

It may seem easy to distinguish whether something is alive or not. You are alive, as is your teacher, and the trees you see on your way to school. Your desk and chair are not alive, and neither are ...

Infrared images of Titan acquired by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Titan’s subsurface ocean is rich in organic molecules, making it a promising place to look for alien life in our solar system. These ...

Imagine packing all the people in the world into the Great Salt Lake in Utah — all of us jammed shoulder to shoulder, yet also charging past one another at insanely high speeds. That gives you some ...