New research finds Earth's surface was first sprinkled with fresh water some 4 billion years ago, a whole 500 million years earlier than previously thought.
Groundwater provides about half of the world's population with drinking water and nearly half of all water used to irrigate crops. It can take decades or even centuries for some aquifers to recover after they are depleted.
Astronomers have found water vapor around a young star within the constellation Taurus, 450 light-years away from Earth.
New findings suggest the water originates from the space between solar systems, billions of years before the birth of our sun.
A new study finds that Earth's water may have come from materials that were present in the inner solar system at the time the planet formed - instead of far-reaching comets or asteroids delivering such water.
