The Building Blocks of Life

New research could solve the mystery of how the complex building blocks of life first formed.

The icy ingredients studied in a molecular cloud 500 light-years away provide a "spectral snapshot" of the origins of space bodies.

In this week's Short Wave roundup, Berly McCoy and Regina Barber talk about the origins of life on Earth, what bird brains illuminate about human speech and how ADHD is mischaracterized on TikTok.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled yet another exciting discovery - the building blocks of life frozen deep within a cosmic cloud.

NASA said during a live stream Wednesday that Bennu asteroid samples collected by the OSIRIS-Rex mission contain water, carbon and organic molecules - the building blocks of life.

From its humble origin(s), life has infected the entire planet with endless beautiful forms. The genesis of life is the oldest biological event, so old that no clear evidence was left behind other than the existence of life itself. This leaves many questions open, and one of the most tantalizing is how many times life magically emerged from non-living elements.

The best nonfiction of the spring festival circuit is on the way.

Is our Universe all there is, or could there be more? Is our Universe just one of a countless multitude, all together in an all-encompassing multiverse? And if there are other universes, what would they be like? Could they be habitable? This might feel...

The icy ingredients studied in a molecular cloud 500 light-years away provide a "spectral snapshot" of the origins of space bodies.