Earth news stories

Proposal to grant the ocean rights calls for a sea change in legal framework
18th October 2022 news.mongabay.com | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

The idea is simple but ambitious: protect the ocean by giving it the same kind of rights a person might have. No such legal mechanism is currently in place, but support for this concept is growing as experts increasingly recognize that the ocean is in dire need of defense.

How do mushrooms become magic?
17th October 2022 | eurekalert.org | Earth, Humans

Scientists from the University of Plymouth are conducting a first-of-its-kind study using advanced genetic methods and behavioural experiments to address previously untested hypotheses into the origin of psychedelic compounds in fungi.

How fluctuating oxygen levels may have accelerated animal evolution
17th October 2022 | eurekalert.org | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

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 research.

Why technologically advanced aliens would have to be social creatures
17th October 2022 bigthink.com | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

Humans are creatures of paradox. Sometimes we overflow with compassion and empathy, while at other times, we are violent and cruel. We preserve nature by creating natural parks and wilderness areas, then ravage the same natural resources without any thought of how to sustain them.

Scientists Can No Longer Ignore Ancient Flooding Tales
13th October 2022 | theatlantic.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans

Indigenous stories from the end of the last Ice Age could be more than myth.

After the ‘Great Dying,’ life on Earth took millions of years to recover. Now, scientists know why.
13th October 2022 | livescience.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

At the end of the Permian period 252 million years ago, Earth was devastated by a mass extinction that exterminated more than 90% of species on the planet. Compared with other mass extinctions, recovery from the “Great Dying” was slow: It took at least 10 million years for the planet to be repopulated and restore its diversity.

Discovered in the deep: the ‘forest of the weird’
12th October 2022 | theguardian.com | Animal Life, Earth, Weird

More than a mile beneath the Pacific Ocean, is a seascape of oddly shaped corals and a glass sponge named after ET.

Sacred Easter Island statues suffer ‘irreparable damage’ after volcano fire
11th October 2022 edition.cnn.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans

Easter Island’s towering stone heads and other archaeological elements have been charred by a fire, according to local Indigenous and Chilean authorities.

Image from: kallerna (Wiki Commons)

Ancient DNA From 1 Million Years Ago Discovered in Antarctica
11th October 2022 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Earth

As we’re a species with ever-shrinking attention spans, it can be difficult to comprehend just how long life has been around on Earth. However, try to get your head around this one: Scientists have dug up fragments of DNA dating back 1 million years ago.

Tiny reptile unearthed in Scotland was ‘closely related to pterosaurs’
7th October 2022 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

After more than a century of debate, researchers have settled the mystery of a tiny, enigmatic reptile that left an impression on Scottish sandstone nearly a quarter of a billion years ago.

Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Produced Global Tsunamis Up to 2.8 Miles High
5th October 2022 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

The dinosaur-killing asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago also triggered a jumbo-size tsunami with mile-high waves in the Gulf of Mexico whose waters traveled halfway around the world, a new study finds.

How did the moon form? A supercomputer may have just found the answer
5th October 2022 | livescience.com | Ancient, Earth, Space

The moon could have formed immediately after a cataclysmic impact that tore off a chunk of Earth and hurled it into space, a new study has suggested.

‘Humble’ worm saliva can break down tough plastic
5th October 2022 | bbc.co.uk | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

One of the worst forms of plastic pollution may have met its match in the saliva of a humble worm. Spanish researchers say they’ve discovered chemicals in the wax worm’s drool that break down polyethylene, a tough and durable material.

Nootropic Mushrooms: The Fungi That Build Better Brains
4th October 2022 doubleblindmag.com | Earth, Humans, Misc.

Compounds in these medicinal fungi may be natural “smart drugs.”

Study of meteorites suggests Earth’s composition was changed by collisional erosion
2nd October 2022 phys.org | Ancient, Earth, Space

A team of researchers from Université Clermont Auvergne, working with a colleague from Universität Bayreuth, has found evidence that suggests the Earth’s composition changed over time during its early years via collisional erosion.

Amazing New Fossils Provide Earliest Known Traces of The Evolution of Our Jaws And Limbs
30th September 2022 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

Road excavations in China’s Guizhou Province have unearthed a trove of ancient fish fossils. As a part of rock layers known as the Rongxi Formation, the newfossil bed is filled with never-before-seen species that push back the dates of our first jawed animal ancestors by about 15 million years.

News stories covering the environment, plant life, and the Earth itself.