All organisms are made of living cells. While it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the first cells came to exist‚ geologists' best estimates suggest at least as early as 3.8 billion years ago. But how much life has inhabited this planet since the first cell on Earth? And how much life will ever exist on Earth?

A large team of life scientists at China's Shaanxi Normal University‚ working with colleagues from several other institutions in China‚ one in the U.K. and two in the U.S.‚ has found evidence that the black-footed cat may be in danger of extinction due to loss of habitat. In their study‚ reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences‚ the group obtained tissue samples from 10 of the cats and conducted genomic sequencing to learn about their recent breeding history.

Mosquitoes in search of blood as well as fruit flies looking for a place to lay their eggs navigate using CO2‚ which is produced during respiration or in fermentation processes. A complex of various odor receptors that can detect CO2 has already been identified in mosquitoes.

Princeton physicists have discovered an abrupt change in quantum behavior while experimenting with a three-atom-thin insulator that can be easily switched into a superconductor.

Fleeting blasts of energy from space‚ known as fast radio bursts (FRBs)‚ are a cosmic enigma. A Canadian-led international team of researchers has published new findings suggesting that supernovae are the predominant contributors to forming sources that eventually produce FRBs.

Global fungal infections‚ which affect 1 billion people and cause 1.5 million deaths each year‚ are on the rise due to the increasing number of medical treatments that heighten vulnerability. Patients undergoing chemotherapy or immunosuppressive treatments after organ transplant often present compromised immune systems.

Some invasive plants can form persistent banks of seeds that remain under the soil for years‚ and this makes their eradication practically impossible. Over time‚ this invisible population of large quantities of living‚ buried plants—in seed form—will reoccupy ecosystems and displace the typical flora of the natural environment.

You may be familiar with yeast as the organism content to turn carbs into products like bread and beer when left to ferment in the dark. In these cases‚ exposure to light can hinder or even spoil the process.

A trio of environmental engineers at the University of Illinois Chicago‚ has used census data and an annual demographics survey to make predictions about U.S. city population growth or decline in the years leading up to 2100.

Polluting companies could be liable for trillions in damages from climate lawsuits. But few investors and regulators are taking these risks into account when evaluating companies' climate-related financial risks‚ according to new Oxford Sustainable Law program research published Jan. 11 in Science. The research calls for an overhaul in how climate litigation risks are assessed and provides a new framework for doing so.