Learning about the past is usually easier than predicting the future, but deciphering the earliest history of life on Earth seems to be an exception to the rule. Of course, we're not entirely in the ...

Asteroid impacts may have helped kick-start life on Earth by creating hot, chemical-rich environments ideal for early biology. These impact-generated hydrothermal systems could have lasted thousands ...

"Life might actually survive being ejected from one planet and moving to another." When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. A remarkably ...

Without the right oxygen balance, phosphorus and nitrogen vanish — and life can't take hold. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Life ...

On the shores of the west coast of Australia lies a window to our past: the stromatolites and microbial mats of Gathaagudu (Shark Bay). To the untrained eye, they look like a collection of rocks and ...

Some scientists suspect that microorganisms can hop between planets by jumping aboard debris kicked up by asteroid strikes. NASA / JPL-Caltech For decades, some of Earth’s brightest scientists have ...

The colossal movements of tectonic plates shape our world, influencing the composition of Earth’s atmosphere, the planet’s protective magnetic field and perhaps even the flourishing of life. Now ...