Molecular fossils probe life's origins

Complex molecular mixtures under cycling gradients as basis for lifes origins

Mitochondrial DNA: Molecular fossils in the nucleus

The nuclear genomes of many animals contain non-functional copies of mitochondrial genes that provide new opportunities for evolutionary analysis.

Lifes preservative against self-killing

in the "index of botanical names", where the medieval Latin designations take you to the main dictionary, for example to the items satirion and testiculus leporis, under which the Middle English names are listed, in the case of satirion indiscriminately with other possible identifications, such as Arum and Endymion. Admittedly, the difficulties of identification are considerable-one reason bein...

A molecular force probe.

Force probes allow reaction rates to be measured as a function of the restoring force in a molecule that has been stretched or compressed. Unlike strain energy, approaches based on restoring force allow quantitative molecular understanding of phenomena as diverse as translation of microscopic objects by reacting molecules, crack propagation and mechanosensing. Conceptually, localized reactions ...

Archean molecular fossils and the early rise of eukaryotes.

Molecular fossils of biological lipids are preserved in 2700-million-year-old shales from the Pilbara Craton, Australia. Sequential extraction of adjacent samples shows that these hydrocarbon biomarkers are indigenous and syngenetic to the Archean shales, greatly extending the known geological range of such molecules. The presence of abundant 2alpha-methylhopanes, which are characteristic of cy...