Scientists have shown conclusively for the first time that tiny marine organisms in polar oceans survived the mass extinction event that wiped out prehistoric dinosaurs because they needed less energy […]
Mars provides a critical analog to once habitable exoplanets that have since lost their surface liquid water.
From the highest mountains to the deepest ocean, the driest desert to the lushest jungle, Earth displays a dazzling array of lifeforms. And eukaryotes account for many of these lifeforms, […]
An international collaboration involving researchers from the University of Western Australia, the University of Ottawa and several partner institutions specializing in geosciences has identified direct geological evidence linking sharp spikes […]
A new study by Earth scientists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) offers an explanation for one of Earth’s great climate puzzles: how […]
![Blue bars indicate the total number of whole-genome duplications (WGDs) identified in each plant family, including WGDs in a family’s most recent common ancestor (MRCA) and in its descendant lineages. Numbers in parentheses specifically indicate the number of WGDs in the MRCA lineage of families, shared by all species thereof. For instance, five WGDs were identified in Brassicaceae, one of which is present in the MRCA of the clade (i.e., “5[1]”). Blue lines in nodes of the tree indicate 95% highest posterior density (HPD) intervals for estimated divergence times. Shaded gray bars in the tree indicate families that belong to the same order. Orders with two or more families are labeled. Colored horizontal bars at the bottom of the tree indicate geological periods. Tr, Triassic; J, Jurassic; K, Cretaceous; Pg, Paleogene; and Ng, Neogene -- Cell Press](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Plants-Survived-1.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
When an asteroid as big as Mount Everest struck Earth 66 million years ago, it wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs and roughly a third of life on the planet. But many […]
Meteor impacts may have helped spark life on Earth, creating hot, chemical-rich environments where the first living cells could take shape, according to research integrated by a recent Rutgers University […]
How primitive plants evolved to survive Earth’s most catastrophic extinction event.
At least one large-body (diameter > 1.1 km) hypervelocity cratering event occurred during ~ 0.8-0.90 Ma (Zhamanshin, Kazakhstan) in the Middle Pleistocene Transition period.
Earth experienced a period of intense, large-scale volcanism during the early Aptian. Around that time, it also experienced widespread ocean deoxygenation during the Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE1a) as well […]
