The acidity of the atmosphere is increasingly determined by carbon dioxide and organic acids such as formic acid. The second of these impact the growth of clouds and pH of rainwater. But the chemical ...

In another step toward understanding the origin of Earth’s biological molecules, two independent laboratory experiments have produced amino acids–the building blocks of proteins–by simulating ...

The first building blocks of life on Earth may have formed thanks to eruptions from our Sun, a new study finds. A series of chemical experiments show how solar particles, colliding with gases in Earth ...

A key molecule for life may have formed in the cold, far-reaches of space, alongside budding stars and planets. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, making them vital for life on Earth.