Oxygen levels in the Earth’s atmosphere are likely to have “fluctuated wildly” one billion years ago, creating conditions that could have accelerated the development of early animal life, according to new […]
evolution
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Press Release
Photosynthesis on Earth: Evolution Of Increased Complexity And Specificity At The Dawn Of Form I Rubiscos
The evolution of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenases (Rubiscos) that discriminate strongly between their substrate carbon dioxide and the undesired side substrate dioxygen was an important event for photosynthetic organisms adapting to an […]
Posted inFossils & Paleontology, Press Release
An Armored Worm Reveals The Ancestry Of Three Major Animal Groups On Earth
An international team of scientists, including from the Universities of Bristol and Oxford, and the Natural History Museum, have discovered that a well-preserved fossilised worm dating from 518-million-years-ago resembles the […]
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Fossils & Paleontology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
How A Planet’s Climate Affected The Evolution Of An Intelligent Species: Humans
Three distinct phases of climate variability in eastern Africa coincided with shifts in hominin evolution and dispersal over the last 620,000 years, an analysis of environmental proxies from a lake […]
Posted inFossils & Paleontology, Plant Biology, Press Release
541-million-year-old 3D Fossil Algae Reveal Modern-looking Ancestry Of The Plant Kingdom
Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of algae called Protocodium sinense which predates the origin of land plants and modern animals and provides new insight into the early […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Press Release
Uncovering An Evolutionary Process That Enabled Diversity Of Plant Life On Earth
About 1.2 billion years ago a blue-green bacterium was engulfed by a more complex cell, transforming our planet and allowing a tremendous diversity of plant life to emerge and continue […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Life Imitates Mica
In mythologies and origin stories around the world, various cultures and religions point to clay as the vessel of life, the primordial material that creator gods imbued with a self-sustaining […]
Posted inFossils & Paleontology, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Discovery Of New Types of Microfossils May Answer An Age-old Scientific Question
Scientists have long pondered how and when the evolution of prokaryotes to eukaryotes occurred. A collaborative research team from Tohoku University and the University of Tokyo may have provided some […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Press Release, Terraforming & Geoengineering
Land Plants Changed Earth’s Composition
Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that the evolution of land plants caused a sudden shift in the composition of Earth’s continents. The Southampton researchers, led by Dr […]
Posted inFossils & Paleontology, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Saccorhytus Is NOT The Earliest Human Ancestor
Saccorhytus CREDIT Philip Donoghue et al An international team of researchers have discovered that a mysterious microscopic creature from which humans were thought to descend is part of a different […]