Hadean Eon – Earth, Moon, proteins, RNA
In the Hadean Eon, Earth was covered with active volcanoes like this one. Why is it called the Hadean Eon? Scientists named the Hadean Eon after the Greek god Hades, [...]
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06, 2017
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06, 2017
What are amino acids? Organic chemistry
A model of the amino acid molecule glycine (red is oxygen, black is carbon, yellow is hydrogen, and blue is nitrogen atoms) What are amino acids? Amino acids are molecules made [...]
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06, 2017
What is phosphorus? Atoms, elements, chemistry
Diagram of a phosphorus atom Phosphorus atoms have fifteen protons and sixteen neutrons, so they're just a little lighter than sulphur atoms, in the middle of the range for atoms. [...]
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06, 2017
What is nitrogen? Atoms, Elements, Chemistry
Diagram of a nitrogen atom Inside a red giant star, the star smashes lighter atoms together. Smashing atoms gets the star energy to burn, and also leaves extra heavier atoms. Nitrogen [...]
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05, 2017
Evolution of Cells – Biology
A mutated snake with two heads With all these new molecules like lipids, amino acids, RNA, and protein floating around in the oceans by around four billion years ago, there [...]
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05, 2017
Natural Selection – Evolution and Biology
The feet of a person with six toes on each foot Whenever protons and electrons bump into each other, or atoms bump into each other, or molecules bump into each other, [...]
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05, 2017
What is RNA? Cell biology and evolution
RNA molecule: A single strand of RNA, seen under an electron microscope The RNA molecule was probably one of the earliest steps towards life on Earth. RNA is short for [...]
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05, 2017
Cell reproduction – Biology
A cell dividing into two cells The first reproduction One of the main ways we define whether something is alive is whether it can reproduce - if it can make a new [...]
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05, 2017
What are proteinoids? Thermal proteins – Biology
Thermal proteins seen through a microscope Around four billion years ago, some of the amino acid molecules that were on the planet Earth began to join together into bigger molecules [...]
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05, 2017
What is a protein? Cell biology
When the first amino acids came to Earth from space inside chunks of ice about five billion years ago, the ice melted on the hot Earth and turned to water, and the [...]
