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Microorganisms discovered living hundreds of meters deep in Greenland 75 million years ago

A recent international study, led by Associate Professor Henrik Drake from Linnaeus University, has uncovered groundbreaking evidence that microorganisms lived deep beneath Greenland’s rocky surface 75 million years ago. This research offers new insights into the history of the “deep biosphere”, a hidden world of life existing far beneath the Earth’s surface. The deep biosphere […]

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Iron Was The First and Only Metal of Life’s Origin

Life as we know it relies on small quantities of metals to perform essential biological functions like breathing, DNA transcription, and energy conversion. Since the earliest forms of life floated in Earth’s primordial oceans, metals have played a crucial role in these processes. Almost half of the enzymes—proteins that drive chemical reactions within cells—require metals […]

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Scientists Uncover a Novel Energy Metabolism that Could Sustain Life on Extraterrestrial Planets

Scientists have stumbled upon a groundbreaking discovery that might hold the key to life beyond Earth. Let’s rewind to the late ’80s when a scientist doodled some calculations on paper. This scientist figured out that turning a chemical called phosphite into phosphate could release enough energy to power a tiny organism. Imagine this microorganism being […]

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Microfossils Reveal Rise in Complexity of Life Linked to Oxygen Increase

Scientists have found clues in ancient rocks that suggest life on Earth became more complex at the same time oxygen levels increased in the atmosphere and oceans. The rocks contain tiny fossils called microfossils that are over 2.4 billion years old. By studying these microfossils, researchers learned that complex life may have evolved earlier than […]