Related topics: earth

Tectonic plates started shifting earlier than previously thought

An enduring question in geology is when Earth's tectonic plates began pushing and pulling in a process that helped the planet evolve and shaped its continents into the ones that exist today. Some researchers theorize it happened ...

How the moon formed: New research sheds light on what happened

How the Earth got its moon is a long debated question. The giant impact theory – which states that the moon formed from the a collision between the early Earth and a rocky body called Theia—has become the front runner ...

Early Earth may have been a 'waterworld'

Kevin Costner, eat your heart out. New research shows that the early Earth, home to some of our planet's first lifeforms, may have been a real-life "waterworld"— without a continent in sight.

Were hot, humid summers the key to life's origins?

Uncovering how the first biological molecules (like proteins and DNA) arose is a major goal for researchers attempting to solve the origin of life. Today, chemists at Saint Louis University, in collaboration with scientists ...

A chemical clue to how life started on Earth

Earth didn't always harbor life. But around 4 billion years ago, something in the environment changed, and systems with biological properties began to emerge. Many scientists believe a lively dance of molecules called amino ...

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