The origin of life is one of the most fundamental questions of humanity. It has been and is
still being addressed by a wide range of researchers from different fields, with different …

HCN-derived polymers are a heterogeneous group of complex substances synthesized from
pure HCN; from its salts; from its oligomers, specifically its trimer and tetramer, amino-nalono …

Ocean-vaporizing impacts of chemically reduced planetesimals onto the early Earth have
been suggested to catalyze atmospheric production of reduced nitrogen compounds and …

The search for biosignatures on exoplanets connects the fields of biology and biochemistry
to astronomical observation, with the hope that we might detect evidence of active biological …

Humanity's strive to understand why and how life appeared on planet Earth dates back to
prehistoric times. At the beginning of the 19th century, empirical biology started to tackle this …

Finding and characterizing extrasolar Earth analogs will rely on interpretation of the
planetary system's environmental context. The total budget and fractionation between C–H …

The amino acids synthesis from elementary precursors in abiotic conditions is traditionally
described according to the Strecker reaction, thoroughly invoked to justify the observation of …

A critical early stage for the origin of life on Earth may have involved the production of
hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in a reducing, predominantly H2 atmosphere. HCN is crucial for …

Benzene is a simple neutral aromatic compound found in molecular clouds, comets, and
planetary atmospheres. It has been confirmed on Jupiter, Saturn, Titan, and is expected on …

Earth is expected to have acquired a reduced proto-atmosphere enriched in H2 and CH4
through the accretion of building blocks that contain metallic Fe and/or the gravitational …