Space on MSN6h
Boost for alien hunters? Earth life may not be so improbable, study suggests
The idea that life on Earth arose through a series of improbable "hard" evolutionary steps may be misjudged, according to a ...
Discovery of high-spin manganese centers sheds light on photosynthesis
In a small manganese oxide cluster, teams from HZB and HU Berlin have discovered a particularly exciting compound: two high-spin manganese centers in two very different oxidation states. This complex ...
Smithsonian Magazine1d
Intelligent Life May Be More Likely to Exist on Other Planets Than Previously Thought, Scientists Say
Researchers present an alternative to the long-held “hard steps” theory to explain the evolution of complex life, suggesting ...
EurekAlert!2d
BESSY II: Building block of the catalyst for oxygen formation in photosynthesis reproduced
In a small manganese oxide cluster, teams from HZB and HU Berlin have discovered a particularly exciting compound: two high ...
How Quantum Mechanics Powers the Near-Perfect Efficiency of Photosynthesis
Plants harness quantum physics to capture solar energy with near-perfect efficiency. Scientists are now exploring how to ...
Evolving intelligent life took billions of years—but it may not have been as unlikely as many scientists predicted
A popular model of evolution concludes that it was incredibly unlikely for humanity to evolve on Earth, and that extraterrestrial intelligence is vanishingly rare.
earth2d
"Purple Earth" hypothesis is gaining momentum in the scientific community
Purple Earth Hypothesis suggests Earth was once a purple planet. Early microbes used retinal, not chlorophyll, for ...
A century of extra carbon dioxide boosts photosynthesis in tropical trees
The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is rising rapidly, with numerous negative consequences for the climate. However, ...
Was the emergence of intelligent life on Earth just a fluke? Some scientists think not
Roughly 300,000 years ago, our species first appeared on the African landscape before spreading globally and coming to ...
Odds of human-like lifeforms on other planets may be more likely than previously thought: study
Researchers from Penn State University proposed in a new academic paper that human-like lifeforms could arise as a logical consequence of a planet’s development — contradicting the long-held “hard ...
Live Science on MSN3d
'Perhaps it's only a matter of time': Intelligent life may be much more likely than first thought, new model suggests
For decades, scientists assumed that life on Earth emerged through a chain of highly improbable flukes. But a new theory ...