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Photosynthesis originated a billion years earlier than we thought, study shows
This plate is a culture of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, a type of unicellular Cyanobacteria. Credit: Elsevier Ancient microbes may have been producing oxygen through photosynthesis a billion years...
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Clues to recovery from mass extinction
The collection site for the sediments used in this study, located near the village of Zal in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. Photo credit: Sylvain Richoz About 252 million years ago, more than 90...
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Scientists find widespread ocean anoxia as cause for past mass extinction
Researchers gather samples on Anticosti Island. Credit: University of New Mexico For decades, scientists have conducted research centered around the five major mass extinctions that have shaped the...
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Did plate tectonics set the stage for life on Earth?
Plate tectonics may have helped facilitate the development of life on Earth. Image credit: NASA. A new study suggests that rapid cooling within the Earth’s mantle through plate tectonics played a major...
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Oxygen levels on early Earth rose and fell several times before the...
The Jeerinah Formation in Western Australia, where a UW-led team found a sudden shift in nitrogen isotopes. “Nitrogen isotopes tell a story about oxygenation of the surface ocean, and this oxygenation...
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The original sunscreen: Iron-silica particles unlock part of the mystery of...
Iron-silica particles helped shield cyanobacteria like these, which played a key role in the oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere according to new research from UAlberta. (Photo credit: George Owttrim)...
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Detecting life’s influence on planetary atmospheres
An artist’s impression of a habitable exoplanet. Seasonal changes and the presence of disequilibrium gases in such a planet’s atmosphere could indicate the existence of life there. Image: NASA...
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Earth’s oxygen increased in gradual steps rather than big bursts
An oxygenated Earth is vital for the evolution of complex life. Image credit: NASA. A carbon cycle anomalydiscovered in carbonate rocks of the Neoproterozoic Hüttenberg Formation of north-eastern...
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Special journal issue looks for new clues about old life
Dickinsonia costata, an extinct soft-bodied organism representing one of the first complex metazoans in the fossil record. Total length 53.5?mm. Credit: Scott Evans Hundreds of millions of years before...
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Alien Imposters: Planets with Oxygen Don’t Necessarily Have Life
In their search for life in solar systems near and far, researchers have often accepted the presence of oxygen in a planet’s atmosphere as the surest sign that life may be present there. A new Johns...
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