Discover LUCA: The 4.2 Billion-Year-Old Ancestor of All Life on Earth

Recent research has revealed that LUCA, the last universal common ancestor of all life, lived around 4.2 billion years ago. This new estimate pushes back the timeline for the origin of life by 300 million years. The study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, involved analysis of genes from 700 species of bacteria and archaea, as well as ancient fossils to refine ...