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In the beginning, there were chemicals. Credit: Illustration by Max Englund

Life on Earth originated in an intimate partnership between the nucleic acids and peptides, according to two new papers from biochemists and biologists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Auckland. Their “peptide-RNA” hypothesis contradicts the widely-held “RNA-world” hypothesis, which states that life originated from nucleic acids and only later evolved to include proteins. The new papers show how recent experimental studies of two enzyme superfamilies surmount the tough theoretical questions about how complex life emerged on Earth more than 4 billion years ago.

“Until now, it has been thought to be impossible to conduct experiments to penetrate the origins of genetics,” said C...

These illustrations represent different levels of adaptive complexity we might imagine when thinking about aliens. (a) A simple replicating molecule, with no apparent design. This may or may not undergo natural selection. (b) An incredibly simple, cell-like entity. Even something this simple has sufficient contrivance of parts that it must undergo natural selection. (c) An alien with many intricate parts working together is likely to have undergone major transitions. Credit: Helen S. Cooper

What evolutionary biology tells us about how aliens could look. For the first time, researchers show how evolutionary theory can be used to support alien predictions and better understand their behavior...

With the help of the two-dimensional material graphene, the first flexible terahertz detector has been developed by researchers at Chalmers. The opportunities are great within health and Internet of Things, and for new types of sensors. Credit: Boid – Product Design Studio, Gothenburg/Chalmers University of Technology

A flexible detector for terahertz frequencies (1,000GHz) has been developed using graphene transistors on plastic substrates. It is the first of its kind, and can extend the use of terahertz technology to applications that will require flexible electronics, such as wireless sensor networks and wearable technology. Terahertz radiation has a wide range of uses from radio astronomy to medicine...

This is an artist’s impression of the cool red star above NGTS-1b. Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick

A giant planet, which should not exist according to planet formation theory, has been discovered around a distant star. The existence of the ‘monster’ planet, ‘NGTS-1b’, challenges theories of planet formation which state that a planet of this size could not be formed around such a small star. According to these theories, small stars can readily form rocky planets but do not gather enough material together to form Jupiter-sized planets.

‘NGTS-1b’ however, is a ‘gas giant’ – due to its size and temperature, the planet is known as a ‘hot Jupiter’, a class of planets that are at least as large as our solar system’s very own Jupiter, but with around 20% less mass...