A careful study of images taken by the NASA rover Curiosity has revealed intriguing similarities between ancient sedimentary rocks on Mars and structures shaped by microbes on Earth. The findings suggest, but do not prove, ...
Space Exploration
Jan 6, 2015
53
5509
(Phys.org)—A group of US researchers studying some of the oldest rocks in the world in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, say they have found the oldest traces of life on Earth, dated at 3.49 billion years old.
A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the U.S. has found and identified a species of shipworm that eats rock instead of wood. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the group ...
Researchers from Northwestern University and the University of New Mexico report evidence for potentially oceans worth of water deep beneath the United States. Though not in the familiar liquid form—the ingredients for ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 12, 2014
12
6
Two new studies from University of Utah researchers show what can be learned from a short seismic checkup of natural rock arches and how erosion sculpts some arches—like the iconic Delicate Arch—into shapes that lend ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 11, 2020
0
149
Diverse microbial life existed on Earth at least 3.75 billion years ago, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers that challenges the conventional view of when life began.
Evolution
Apr 13, 2022
3
247
Stone forests—pointed rock formations resembling trees that populate regions of China, Madagascar, and many other locations worldwide—are as majestic as they are mysterious, created by uncertain forces that give them ...
General Physics
Sep 7, 2020
2
177
The earliest morphological traces of life on Earth are often highly controversial, both because non-biological processes can produce relatively similar structures and because such fossils have often been subjected to advanced ...
Astrobiology
Nov 7, 2022
13
311
For most of Earth's history, life was limited to the microscopic realm, with bacteria occupying nearly every possible niche. Life is generally thought to have evolved in some of the most extreme environments, like hydrothermal ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 28, 2021
0
608
New research near Uluru in Australia's arid center shows that rock structures formed deep within the ancient Gondwana supercontinent controlled the rupture pathways of one of Australia's largest modern earthquakes.
Earth Sciences
Jun 4, 2020
0
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