Microbial mats are biodiverse communities within which multiple functional groups of microbes combine to capture, sequester and recycle nutrients and energy. They are one of the earliest known and organized […]
Fossil
Posted inBiophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Microfossil Qingjiangonema Sheds Light Evolution Of Sulfate-reducing Bacteria In Response To Oxygenation
Microbial sulfate reduction dating back to the Paleoarchean plays a crucial role in driving global carbon and sulfur cycles in ancient and modern Earth.
Posted inAstrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report
2.7 Billion Year Old Tumbiana Stromatolite From An Ancient Lakebed In Australia
This stromatolite formed about 2.7 billion years ago and was collected from an ancient lake environment preserved in the Tumbiana Formation, a succession of clastic and carbonate rocks outcropping along […]
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Press Release
Earth’s Earliest Forest Revealed In Somerset Fossils
The oldest fossilised forest known on Earth – dating from 390 million years ago – has been found in the high sandstone cliffs along the Devon and Somerset coast of […]
Posted inExtinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Impact events, Press Release
Post-Impact Changes In Earth’s Ocean Ecology
Paleontologists have discovered a strange new species of marine lizard with dagger-like teeth that lived near the end of the age of dinosaurs.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microgravity, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
High Resolution Techniques Reveal Clues In 3.5 Billion-year-old Biomass
To learn about the first organisms on our planet, researchers have to analyse the rocks of the early Earth. These can only be found in a few places on the […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report, Stellar Cartography, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Cosmic Radiation Drives Quasi-periodic Changes In The Diversity Of Siliceous Marine Microplankton
Radiolarians are significant contributors to the oceanic primary productivity and the global silica cycle in the last 500 Myr. Their diversity throughout the Phanerozoic shows periodic fluctuations.
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Press Release
470 Million Year Old Fossil Site From Earth’s Lower Ordovician Period Uncovered In France
Nearly 400 exceptionally well-preserved fossils dating back 470 million years have been discovered in the south of France by two amateur paleontologists.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Press Release
Molecular Fossils Shed Light On Ancient Earth Life
Paleontologists are getting a glimpse at life over a billion years in the past based on chemical traces in ancient rocks and the genetics of living animals. Research published Dec. […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Press Release
Rare 3D Fossils Show That Some Early Trees Had Forms Unlike Any You’ve Ever Seen
In the fossil record, trees typically are preserved with only their trunks. They don’t usually include any leaves to show what their canopies and overall forms may have looked like.