amino

Scientists experimenting on mice have found evidence that key parts of the modern human brain take more time to develop than those of our long extinct cousin, the Neanderthal.Like the hare and the tortoise, slow and steady is the winner here. The extra time is caused by protein differences that also appear to reduce chromosome errors, ultimately resulting in a healthier, more robust population.  The study's results imply that this step in the development of our neocortex (the wrinkled outer layer responsible for higher…

Once upon a time, when our planet Earth was very young and very new, there was not a single scrap of life on it to be found.Then, somewhere, somehow, some quirk of chemistry happened, and the molecular building blocks of our very first single-celled ancestors emerged: the amino acids and nucleic acids that came together in just the right way to continue a chain reaction that gave rise to life.  We're not entirely sure of the details of this emergence, which took place billions of years ago, and left no trace on the…

The search for life on Mars may have just gotten a whole lot more complicated.While rovers such as Curiosity and Perseverance scour the surface looking for traces of ancient life, new evidence reveals we may have to dig much deeper to find them. Any evidence of amino acids left over from a time when Mars may have been habitable are likely buried at least 2 meters (6.6 feet) under the ground.  That's because Mars, with its lack of magnetic field, and flimsy atmosphere, is subject to a much higher dose of cosmic radiation…

For the first time, scientists have found the building blocks for life on an asteroid in space. Japanese researchers have discovered more than 20 amino acids on the space rock Ryugu, which is more than 200 million miles (320 million kilometers) from Earth.  Scientists made the first-of-its-kind detection by studying samples retrieved from the near-Earth asteroid by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Hayabusa2 spacecraft, which landed on Ryugu in 2018.In 2019, the spacecraft collected 0.2 ounce (5.4 grams)…