How cosmic crashes could have kickstarted plate tectonics

A rock the size of a small city hurtles towards Earth, smashing a crater bigger than the span between Washington, D.C. and New York City. The heat and shockwave raises the temperature of the atmosphere above boiling as huge ...

Unearthing the history of the Naracoorte Caves

(Phys.org) —Flinders University researcher Amy Macken has discovered the age of sedimentary layers in the Naracoorte Caves using a cutting-edge computer modelling technique that has never before been used on an Australian ...

NASA confident ahead of nail-biter Mars landing

NASA said Thursday all was well ahead of its nail-biting mission to Mars, with its most advanced robotic rover poised to hunt for clues about past life and water on Earth's nearest planetary neighbor.

NASA officials remember Mars rover Spirit

Scientists and engineers gathered Tuesday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to remember the legacy of the hard-luck rover Spirit that came through in the end with geologic evidence that Mars was once a warm and wet place ...

Early humans caused extinction of Australia's giant animals

(PhysOrg.com) -- The mass extinction of Australia's giant animals, such as huge kangaroos and rhinoceros-sized wombats, might have been more rapid than previously thought, according to new research from the University of ...

New evidence links humans to megafauna demise

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new scientific paper co-authored by a University of Adelaide researcher reports strong evidence that humans, not climate change, caused the demise of Australia's megafauna -- giant marsupials, huge reptiles ...

Andes Mountains Are Older Than Previously Believed

(PhysOrg.com) -- The geologic faults responsible for the rise of the eastern Andes mountains in Colombia became active 25 million years ago—18 million years before the previously accepted start date for the Andes’ rise, ...

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