Scientists discovered complex life may have started 1.5 billion years earlier than previously thought thanks to phosphorus.

"Phosphorus is essential to all forms of life," said Northwestern's Ludmilla Aristilde, who led the study. "The backbone of ...

DNA, which stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, resembles a long, spiraling ladder. It consists of just a few kinds of atoms: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Combinations of these ...

Along with nitrogen and carbon, phosphorus is an essential element for life on Earth. It is a central component of molecules such as DNA and RNA, which serve to transmit and store genetic ...

Although James Watson and Francis Crick determined the double-helical structure of DNA, DNA itself was identified ... and contained a high percentage of phosphorus. Miescher named this molecule ...

The sugar-phosphate backbone forms the structural framework of nucleic acids, including DNA and RNA. This backbone is composed of alternating sugar and phosphate groups, and defines directionality ...

But phosphorus also plays a role in all kinds of essential bodily processes that we need every day but might forget are happening, she adds. That includes things like DNA synthesis, pH balance and ...