A substance poisonous to humans—hydrogen cyanide—may have helped create the seeds of life on Earth. At cold temperatures, hydrogen cyanide forms crystals. And, according to computer models reported in ...

Centuries ago it was commonly believed that comets carried disease in their tails. Nowadays we know the only ‘disease’ you can get from a comet is a cold – if you stay out too long at night watching ...

A study zooms in on data that NASA's Cassini gathered at Saturn's icy moon and finds evidence of a key ingredient for life and a supercharged source of energy to fuel it. Scientists have known that ...

This study identified a chemical pathway promoted by naturally occurring minerals that explains how hydrogen cyanide might have formed on early Earth. Manganese dioxide can convert amino acids into ...