"Consciousness," although challenging to define, can be thought of as a first-person awareness of one's surroundings and ...

Human beings have been at the center of ecological change on Earth for thousands of years. But as history shows, no species ...

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." All life on Earth can be traced back to a Last Universal Common Ancestor, or LUCA. A new study suggests ...

The evolution of humans on Earth may not be entirely exceptional. That is because intelligent life is likely to form if certain planetary conditions are met, a new study suggests. This idea displaces ...

Two perplexing structures deep inside Earth might be ancient remnants of our early planet, and they could hold clues about the origin of life.

For decades, many scientists have relied on the "hard steps" model to suggest that intelligent life is rare — the improbable result of a series of unlikely evolutionary leaps. But new research by ...

New theory proposes that humans — and analogous life beyond Earth — may represent the probable outcome of biological and planetary evolution UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Humanity may not be extraordinary ...

"We're arguing that intelligent life may not require a series of lucky breaks to exist." When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The ...

Scientists are debating the Earth's first creature, with evidence pointing to simple, sponge-like organisms emerging around ...

They’re the building rocks of life. Analysis of debris from the nearly 5 billion-year-old asteroid Bennu suggests the ingredients to life on Earth were present in the early days of our solar system, ...