A stretch of streaked grey rock in a remote, windy part of northern Quebec has sparked one of geology’s most heated debates. The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt (NGB) is a rough outcrop on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay. It may have the oldest intact rocks on Earth, dating back an incredible 4.16 billion years14. If ...
A new study published in Nature Communications reveals that some of Earth’s earliest complex organisms evolved a remarkable survival mechanism: storing arsenic inside their cells. This adaptation helped them endure the chemically hostile oceans of the Paleoproterozoic era, offering rare insight into how life persisted during a time of rising oxygen and environmental stress. Fossils ...
There are huge, invisible structures in the ionosphere that are high above the surface of the Earth. These structures are called equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs). These turbulent areas of low-density plasma can be up to 60 miles (100 km) wide and mess up GPS signals, scramble radio communications, and even cause deadly military accidents. Now, ...
For more than 150 million years, science didn’t notice a small, fast-moving dinosaur that lived in the floodplains of Jurassic North America. It lived in the shadow of giants like Stegosaurus and Allosaurus. Palaeontologists are now having to rethink what they thought they knew about how dinosaurs evolved because of a new species called Enigmacursor ...
A groundbreaking study of 7,000-year-old fossilized coral reefs has revealed how centuries of humans have dramatically altered Caribbean reef ecosystems. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research compares ancient reef communities with modern ones, uncovering a cascade of ecological changes triggered by the loss of top predators. A Window Into Prehuman ...
Asteroid 2024 YR4, which used to be thought to be on a collision course with Earth and could “kill a city,” has changed course and is now 4.3% likely to hit the Moon in December 2032 instead of hurting our planet. If it hits, it could send a lot of lunar debris flying, some of ...
Scientists are storing an unusual resource deep in the Swiss Alps that could one day save human waste. The Microbiota Vault, a “doomsday” freezer bank, already has more than 1,200 frozen stool samples. By 2029, it hopes to have 10,000. But why? Modern lifestyles, antibiotics, processed foods, and damage to the environment are all destroying ...
In a vivid example of nature adapting to human pressure, invasive smallmouth bass in New York’s Adirondack Mountains have evolved traits that help them resist long-standing removal campaigns. According to a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, these fish are now growing faster and reproducing earlier, an evolutionary shift that is ...
MIT engineers have figured out how to get clean water from desert air without using electricity or pumps. This is one of nature’s most difficult codes to break. Their newest invention, a window-sized panel that looks like high-tech bubble wrap, has pushed the limits of collecting water from the air by making drinkable water in ...
Archaeologists have been arguing for years about the social structure of Çatalhöyük, a big Neolithic settlement in Turkey that was around from 7100 to 6000 BCE. Was it a society where women were in charge, or was it something else? Finally, a new study published in Science has answered this question. The study shows that ...
