Is Earth safe from nearby exploding stars?
Scientists used an Earth system model to test how radiation from a nearby supernova would affect life on our planet. They found that the…
Category: What happened in Earth’s past?
What was the Earth like a long time ago? What have archaeologists found? What was it like before life started? How did life come to be?
Volcanism warmed past Earth
Geologists dated a global warming event about 180 million years ago. They found it lasted between 169,000 and 417,000 years and was linked…
How complex plants reshaped the oceans
Researchers found that when complex plants evolved, they increased ocean oxygen and massively restructured the marine ecosystem.
Bat poop corrodes cave formations
Scientists found that bat droppings, microorganisms, and dripping water combine to dissolve cave formations in Slovakia and Poland.
Lightning reacts with minerals to create the building blocks of life
Scientists stimulated atmospheric gases with electricity and found they reacted with common salts and minerals to form complex chemicals…
When did the Galápagos tortoises become giant?
Researchers analyzed new fossils from Ecuador that suggested the ancestors of Galápagos giant tortoises inhabited northern South America…
How complex life arose under extreme stress
Scientists discovered molecules that helped the first complex life forms build strong cell membranes to withstand extreme environments.
Remains of the Moon could be lurking inside Earth
Scientists used models to test whether remnants of the moon-forming impactor, Theia, are present deep within the Earth.
Researchers used bottled “lightning” to make ingredients for life
Scientists used spark discharge experiments to test whether lightning converted enough nitrogen to a usable form to support the origins of…
How quickly did life recover from the end-Permian mass extinction?
Paleontologists described exceptionally well-preserved fossils of a complex marine ecosystem that developed within 1 million years of a…