Rutgers Scientists Identify Substance That May Have Sparked Life on Earth

A computer rendering of the Nickelback peptide shows the backbone nitrogen atoms (blue) that bond two critical nickel atoms (orange). Rutgers scientists who identified this piece of a protein believe it may provide clues to detecting planets on the verge of producing life. Photo: Nanda Laboratory.

Research could provide clues to extraterrestrial life. A team of Rutgers scientists dedicated to pinpointing the primordial origins of metabolism – a set of core chemical reactions that first powered life on Earth – has identified part of a protein that could provide scientists clues to detecting planets on the verge of producing life. The research, published in Science Advances, has important implications …

Rutgers Board of Governors Professor Paul Falkowski Profiled by the National Academy of Sciences

Rutgers Board of Governors Professor Paul Falkowski. Photo credit: Yuan Gao, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ.

This profile first appeared in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Paul Falkowski spent much of his research career analyzing the activity of aquatic microorganisms, which captured his interest early in life. As a child, growing up in a New York City Housing Project in Harlem, he received a small fish tank from a family friend, and his father …