New research suggests “microlightning” exchanges among water droplets in Earth’s early atmosphere may have sparked the ...

About 4 billion years ago, Earth began to show signs of the conditions that allowed the first cells to take hold and populate ...

We may be starting to get a grasp on what kick-started life on Earth – and it could help us search for it on other planets ...

The building blocks of life on Earth may have been fueled by tiny sparks hopping between water droplets.

Scientists say that in order for life to emerge, Earth needs organic compounds which include nitrogen and carbon. However, ...

But real lightning would have struck infrequently—and mostly in open ocean, where organic compounds would have quickly dispersed. If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning ...

Led by Curtin University geologists Chris Kirkland and Tim Johnson, a research team unearthed this primeval crater beneath ...

Our planet’s first known mass extinction happened about 440 million years ago. Species diversity on Earth had been increasing ...

Electrical energy may also have sparked the beginnings of life on Earth billions of years ago, though with a bit less scenery-chewing than that classic film scene. But where did that organic ...