The researchers argue they have uncovered evidence that there was life on Earth more than 3.95 billion years ago—on a planet that isn’t much more than 4.5 billion years old itself.
Fossils discovered in ancient hot spring deposits in the Pilbara have pushed back by 580 million years the earliest known evidence for microbial life on land.
A new study proves that the Earth and other planetary objects formed in the early years of the Solar System share similar chemical origins – a finding at odds with accepted wisdom held by scientists for decades.
Researchers working in Greenland have found traces of microbial life in our planet's most ancient rocks. The discovery pushes back the oldest evidence of life on Earth by about 220 million years, showing just how habitable our planet was during its earliest stages.
A new study suggests that plate tectonics -- the dynamic processes that formed Earth's mountains, volcanoes and continents -- began about 3 billion years ago. By analyzing trace element ratios that correlate to magnesium content in ancient Earth's crust, the researchers provide first-order geochemical evidence for when plate tectonics first got underway.
