Organic

Dr. Frankenstein might not have needed a lightning bolt to bring his monster to life after all. A new study from Stanford suggests that life might have been kickstarted by constant zaps from “microlightning” between water droplets.

With nearly half the world's soil degraded, growing enough food to feed a global population is getting increasingly difficult and costly. Scientists believe they've got one solution, and it's already all around us: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted complex organic molecules, which usually form in smoke, in the very distant universe. With help from a galactic gravitational anomaly, the telescope could see the molecules from 12 billion light-years away.

Solar farms and agriculture are competing for land. UCLA Scientists have now tested a way to combine the two by placing semi-transparent solar cells on the glass roofs of greenhouses, finding that they actually improve the growth of plants inside.

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Benjamin List and David MacMillan, for their work developing a new class of catalyst. The technique is based on small organic molecules and has been instrumental in pharmaceutical research since.

A new international study into the impact of agricultural land use on climate change has found organic food production is worse for the climate than conventional farming, due to the fact that it needs greater areas of land to grow produce.

​A new study has found those who eat a high volume of organic food were 25 percent less likely to be diagnosed with cancer compared to those who eat little to no organic food. Many experts question the study, suggesting it doesn't account for other factors that could influence cancer risk.​

Two meteorites that fell in 1998 were found to contain traces of liquid water and organic compounds vital to life. Now, a comprehensive chemical analysis of them suggests their organic matter could come from an ancient ocean world, giving them the potential to kickstart life wherever they land.

How did non-living matter transition into living organisms? A team is gently rocking a combination of key minerals and organic molecules to see if certain chemical reactions give birth to life. If life emerges “easily” from these conditions, it could be common throughout the universe.

The hunt for present or past life on Mars got a boost as NASA's Curiosity rover records spikes in atmospheric methane ten times greater than previously measured by the unmanned probe.

Chicago entrepreneur Luka Sanders has launched a vending machine that dispenses healthy, organic food. Called Farmer's Fridge, each kiosk is wrapped in rustic reclaimed wood. It contains salads and snacks for the health-conscious and features bar code scanners and a credit card terminal.

Chemists succeed in synthesizing a five-ring molecule as an Olympic tribute.