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: Paleobiology
How complex plants reshaped the oceans
Researchers found that when complex plants evolved, they increased ocean oxygen and massively restructured the marine ecosystem.
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.
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…
How did nautiloids survive extinction?
Researchers found nautiloids outlived other shelly creatures in the late-Cretaceous extinction because they had slower metabolisms.
A trilobite’s last supper
Paleontologists described a trilobite fossil preserved in 3D with its gut contents intact.
Did lightning provide food for life’s beginning?
Lightning bolts can be deadly or destructive, but some researchers propose they might also have supplied essential elements for the first…