A new technology has shed further light on the age-old question: what are the origins of life on Earth?
Tohoku University
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 inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Press Release
Low Volcanic Temperature Ushered In Global Cooling And The Thriving Of Dinosaurs
Researchers in Japan, Sweden, and the US have unearthed evidence that low volcanic temperatures led to the fourth mass extinction, enabling dinosaurs to flourish during the Jurassic period.
Posted inHabitable Zones
Bacterial Bloom As Earth Thawed: Photosynthetic Organisms During Snowball Earth
Some researchers hypothesize that ice sheets enveloped the earth during the Marinoan glaciation (650-535 million years ago) in what is dubbed the “Snowball Earth.” The glaciation also impacted the climate […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
Meteorite Amino Acids Derived From Substrates More Widely Available In The Early Solar System
Scientists have recreated the reaction by which carbon isotopes made their way into different organic compounds, challenging the notion that organic compounds, such as amino acids, were formed by isotopically […]
Posted inImpact events, Press Release
Site of Asteroid Impact Changed the History of Life on Earth
An asteroid, also known as the Chicxulub Impactor, hit Earth some 66 million years ago, causing a crater 180 km wide. The impact of the asteroid heated organic matter in […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release
Meteorite Impacts Can Create DNA Building Blocks
A new study shown that meteorite impacts on ancient oceans may have created nucleobases and amino acids. Researchers from Tohoku University, National Institute for Materials Science and Hiroshima University discovered […]