RNA and DNA are chemical cousins. But one tiny difference between them (an extra oxygen atom repeated along RNA’s backbone) ...

Although there are striking differences between the cells that make up your eyes, kidneys, brain and toes, the DNA blueprint for these cells is essentially the same. Where do those differences come ...

The genetic information stored in DNA is a living archive of instructions that cells use to accomplish the functions of life. Inside each cell, catalysts seek out the appropriate information from this ...

It's one of the origins-of-life chicken-or-egg problems: How could RNA have helped give rise to the first cells before there were cells to contain it? Without the compartmentalization of a cell, it ...

There have been many important discoveries along the path to what we know today about RNA, or ribonucleic acid—a molecule found in every living cell that helps carry and interpret genetic instructions ...

Scientists may have found a clue to one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the origin of life: how fragile RNA molecules could gather and survive before cells existed. New research shows that RNA is ...