The chemical reaction that forms essential biomolecules like proteins and DNA normally doesn’t occur in the presence of water. Microdroplets provide a unique environment that make it possible.
Recent advances in research on human development, and brain science in particular, have revealed that traumatic childhood literally changes the human body, affecting brain development.
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The impact of early childhood trauma on lifelong physical and mental health makes it urgent to invest in programs to support healthy pregnancies and stable, caring very early childhoods.
One 11-year old girl told us she knows once rent is paid, there is almost nothing left over. So she never takes school excursion notes home, in case the cost is too much.
Childhood adversity doesn’t just affect our choices – according to new research, it also weakens the body’s fundamental ability to stay healthy in old age.
If life survived on Earth 3.7 billion years ago, why not elsewhere in the solar system?
Shutterstock/Filip Fuxa
Scientists say they’ve found fossils showing life existed on Earth 3.7 billion years ago. How good is the evidence? And what does it mean for the search for life elsewhere in our solar system?
The site of the Apex chert once thought to hold the oldest fossil found on Earth.
Martin Brasier
Evolution of life on Earth began about 3.5 billion years ago but it has not been a constant or continuous process. During the middle years of Earth’s history (1.8 billion to 800 million years ago), evolution…
The Observer has published what it regards as the top 20 questions in Science. Number one on the list is the question of what the universe is made of. Specifically the 95% of the universe that we cannot…