Chemical gardens are perhaps the best example in chemistry of a self-organizing
nonequilibrium process that creates complex structures. Many different chemical systems …

Far from the thermodynamic equilibrium, many precipitation reactions create complex
product structures with fascinating features caused by their unusual origins. Unlike the …

All life on Earth is built of organic molecules, so the primordial sources of reduced carbon
remain a major open question in studies of the origin of life. A variant of the alkaline …

The oldest putative fossils occur as hematite filaments and tubes in jasper-carbonate
banded iron formations from the 4280-to 3750-Ma Nuvvuagittuq Supracrustal Belt, Québec …

The demonstration by Ivan Barnes et al. that the serpentinization of fresh Alpine-type
ultramafic rocks results in the exhalation of hot alkaline fluids is foundational to the …

Most attempts to define life have concentrated on individual theories, mentioning others
hardly at all, but here we compare all of the major current theories. We begin by asking how …

We examine the electrochemical gradients that form across chemical garden membranes
and investigate how self‐assembling, out‐of‐equilibrium inorganic precipitates—mimicking …

Alkaline hydrothermal vents have become a candidate setting for the origins of life on Earth
and beyond. This is due to several key features including the presence of gradients of …

Cells harvest energy from ionic gradients by selective ion transport across membranes, and
the same principle is recently being used for osmotic power generation from salinity …

Chemical gardens are mineral aggregates that grow in three dimensions with plant-like
forms and share properties with self-assembled structures like nanoscale tubes, brinicles, or …