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
Applying ground-up silicate rock to Midwestern farm fields can capture significant amounts of carbon dioxide and prevent it from accumulating in the atmosphere, according to a new study that successfully quantified those ...
Ecology
Aug 21, 2023
3
173
A study by astrophysicists at the University of Toronto suggests that exoplanets - planets outside our solar system - are more likely to have liquid water and be more habitable than we thought.
Astronomy
Jan 15, 2015
8
2694
The shimmering green, red and purple curtains of the northern and southern lights—the auroras—may be the best-known phenomena lighting up the nighttime sky, but the most mysterious are the mauve and white streaks called ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 9, 2023
0
1543
An international research team has discovered an intense warming phase around 52 million years ago in drill cores obtained from the seafloor near Antarctica.
Earth Sciences
Aug 1, 2012
58
0
Nature whispers its stories in a faint molecular language, and Rice University scientist Laurence Yeung and colleagues can finally tell one of those stories this week, thanks to a one-of-a-kind instrument that allowed them ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 17, 2017
8
692
One of the oldest known meteor showers is streaking through the sky above California. The Lyrid meteor shower was first recorded in 687 B.C. and has been studied for more than 2,000 years, according to NASA. The meteor shower ...
Space Exploration
Apr 22, 2024
0
82
More than 2.4 billion years ago, Earth's atmosphere was inhospitable, filled with toxic gases that drove wildly fluctuating surface temperatures. Understanding how today's world of mild climates and breathable air took shape ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 13, 2017
8
680
If we're going to look for life on other worlds, why not start with the one planet we know has life? Earth's atmosphere is rich with oxygen and molecules such as methane, which strongly suggest the presence of life. It also ...
Astrobiology
Sep 4, 2023
2
244
A series of four studies have shed new light on the properties of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system, currently our most optimal hope for evidence of biological life beyond the Solar system.
Astronomy
Feb 5, 2018
5
591
