Earth's surface is a turbulent place. Mountains rise, continents merge and split, and earthquakes shake the ground. All of these processes result from plate tectonics, the movement of enormous chunks ...

Scientists have traced the origins of complex life to the breakup of the supercontinent Nuna 1.5 billion years ago. This tectonic shift reduced volcanic carbon emissions, expanded shallow seas, and ...

Scientists are listening in on sperm whale conversations and studying Earth's strangest microbes to prepare humanity for ...

A new study uncovered fresh chemical evidence of life in rocks more than 3.3 billion years old, along with molecular traces showing that oxygen-producing photosynthesis emerged nearly a billion years ...

Scientists have shown that Earth’s basic chemistry solidified within just three million years of the Solar System’s formation. Initially, the planet was barren and inhospitable, missing water and ...

By studying Earth's toughest microbes and complex animal "speech", scientists are reshaping how we search for – and may ...

Tiny life forms tucked into debris from an asteroid hit could catapult to other planets—including Earth—and survive, a new Johns Hopkins University study finds. The work demonstrates that a certain ...

Scientists at Yale and in Singapore have devised what may be the ultimate acid test — a comprehensive model for estimating the origins of Earth’s habitability, based in part on ocean acidity. The new ...