More than 90% of Earth's continental crust is made up of silica-rich minerals, such as feldspar and quartz. But where did this silica-enriched material come from? And could it provide a clue in the search for life on other ...
Earth Sciences
May 5, 2017
11
481
A vast global ocean may have covered early Earth during the early Archean eon, 4 to 3.2 billion years ago, a side effect of having a hotter mantle than today, according to new research.
Earth Sciences
Mar 30, 2021
0
7140
An interdisciplinary international research team has recently discovered that a massive anomaly deep within the Earth's interior may be a remnant of the collision about 4.5 billion years ago that formed the moon.
Planetary Sciences
Nov 1, 2023
0
1530
The crucibles that bore out early building blocks of life may have been, in many cases, modest puddles.
Biochemistry
Apr 25, 2016
25
498
The idea that the young Earth had a thicker atmosphere turns out to be wrong. New research from the University of Washington uses bubbles trapped in 2.7 billion-year-old rocks to show that air at that time exerted at most ...
Earth Sciences
May 9, 2016
106
1163
To deal with the faint young Sun paradox, researchers are taking a fresh look at an old idea: that the Sun started out larger and more luminous than we thought.
Astronomy
Feb 14, 2012
13
0
A spark from a lightning bolt, interstellar dust, or a subsea volcano could have triggered the very first life on Earth. But what happened next? Life can exist without oxygen, but without plentiful nitrogen to build genes ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 16, 2015
17
1891
New research suggests that the very oldest pieces of rock on Earth—zircon crystals—are likely to have formed in the craters left by violent asteroid impacts that peppered our nascent planet, rather than via plate tectonics ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 28, 2016
8
1397
The evolution of the ribosome, a large molecular structure found in the cells of all species, has been revealed in unprecedented detail in a new study.
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 30, 2014
25
0
How did life come about? The answer to this question goes to the very heart of our existence on planet Earth.
Astrobiology
Mar 25, 2023
0
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