Helen Hansma, a research professor at UCSB, just published her theory on the origin of life in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. According to the so-called “life between sheets” hypothesis, mica, a ...

That age-old question, "where did life on Earth start?" now has a new answer. If the life between the mica sheets hypothesis is correct, life would have originated between sheets of mica that were ...

Electrical components in vehicles and power stations continue to shrink while becoming more powerful, so engineers need materials that pack more performance in a smaller space. For example, the ...

Muscovite mica (MuM) is a layered mineral commonly used as an insulator. In a new study, researchers observed that, when thinned down to a few molecule layers, MuM acts more like a semiconductor with ...