Earth news stories

Were dinosaurs already on their way out when an asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago, ending the Cretaceous, the geologic period that started about 145 million years ago? It’s a question that has vexed paleontologists like us for more than 40 years.

This story begins with a funeral. On my 33rd birthday in June, I entered my coffin on five grams of mushrooms, had it “nailed” shut, and listened while sixteen friends delivered eulogies as the soundtrack to my trip.

About 8,200 years ago, an underwater landslide known as the Storegga slide near Norway triggered a tsunami that engulfed parts of northern Europe. Around the same time, there was a massive dip in Britain’s population. See the research here.

The random nature of genetic mutation implies evolution is largely unpredictable. But recent research suggests this may not be entirely so, with interactions between genes playing a bigger role than expected in determining how a genome changes.

Amid the discovery of a lost city in the Amazon rainforest, scientists are uncovering a different kind of relic underground – one that’s still being used today.

Crocodile-like skin belonging to an early species of reptile is the oldest fossilized skin ever discovered, dating back almost 290 million years — 130 million years older than the previous record holder.

As analytical methods get more sophisticated, existing scientific models are constantly reexamined. The latest to come under scrutiny is the way molecules are organized at the surface of a volume of salt water. See the research here.

Complex, multicellular life emerged on Earth 600-700 million years ago. For the first time, scientists have accurately dated some of the oldest examples of complex life. See the research here.

In a study published Tuesday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the US, UK and Mexico analyzed the genomes of more than 50 mushrooms from the Psilocybegenus—the group whose members almost all contain the psychedelic compounds psilocybin and psilocin.

A study led by an international team of researchers is shedding new light on the mystery of Gigantopithecus blacki, a giant prehistoric primate that once lived in what is now southern China.

Tiny fossils that have spent nearly 2 billion years locked up in chunks of ancient rock are giving us the earliest evidence yet for photosynthesis on Earth. The research has been published in Nature.

Scientists in China recently made a discovery at the heart of our planet: Every 8.5 years, the Earth’s inner core wobbles around its rotational axis. This shift is likely caused by a tiny misalignment between the inner core and the Earth’s mantle—the layer below the Earth’s crust, according to the researchers’ new study.

The sea off the north-west of Australia used to host islands and even a huge landmass, big enough to support half a million people, according to new archaeological research. A study published in Quaternary Science Review has mapped a world that appeared and disappeared with changing sea levels over the past 70,000 years.

Banisteriopsis caapi isn’t psychedelic, but for many, it’s a vital plant medicine with plenty to teach…This vine is best known as an ingredient in the psychedelic ceremonial drink ayahuasca, but the plant has many names and meanings throughout the Amazon. It’s Yagé in Colombia; Ayahuasca in Peru. Oxe takes the caapi plant by itself for its “antidepressant” effects.

About 2.1 million years ago, the first humans—Homo erectus—migrated from Africa…For a long time, researchers have speculated on how Homo erectus could cross the dry and merciless desert, where there was neither food, water, nor shade. New research from Aarhus University now suggests that Homo erectus may not have walked through the desert when they left Africa…