Four billion years ago, the Earth looked very different than it does today, devoid of life and covered by a vast ocean. Over the course of millions of years, in that primordial soup, life emerged.

NASA has confirmed that dust from the ancient asteroid Bennu contains tryptophan, an amino acid tied both to human mood and ...

The study of the thermodynamics of amino acid solubility in aqueous solutions is central to understanding both biological processes and industrial applications. In these systems, the dissolution of ...

Although the myriad proteins found in all life are largely built from a set of 20 amino acids, many other amino acids exist in nature, and it remains a curiosity as to why some were ultimately ...

A big question in the origin of life on Earth is why it is based solely on "left-handed" amino acids. Studies on asteroid Bennu's chemical building blocks deepens the mystery. Credit: Christoph ...

Researchers from ETH Zurich have succeeded in introducing large quantities of unnatural amino acids into bacteria, enabling ...

Tim McCoy, right, and Cari Corrigan, meteorite researchers at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, look at images of asteroid Bennu samples taken by a scanning electron microscope.

In mice, limited intakes of one specific essential amino acid can slow the effects of aging and even extend their lifespan, ...

The findings, which detail how amino acids shaped the genetic code of ancient microorganisms, shed light on the mystery of how life began on Earth. "You see the same amino acids in every organism, ...