Earth news stories

Study Reveals How Earth’s Orbit Triggers Ice Ages, And There’s One in The Next 11,000 Years
28th February 2025 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

New research has demonstrated the precise relationship between past ice ages and each wobble, tilt, and angle of the planet’s path, unlocking a new tool for predicting the future fluctuations of our global climate. The team’s research has been published in Science.

Earliest evidence of humans in rainforests leads to surprises about how we evolved
27th February 2025 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans

The earliest evidence that humans inhabited rainforests has been found in Africa, a surprising find which pushes human settlement in these habitats much further back than previously thought…As a result, rainforests have often been overlooked as important habitats in the evolution of early modern humans. New research published in Nature has put a dent in this assumption.

A Rare Alignment of 7 Planets Is Taking Place in The Sky This Week
24th February 2025 | sciencealert.com | Earth, Humans, Space

A very rare treat is about to grace Earth’s night skies. On the evening of 28 February 2025, all seven of the other planets in the Solar System will appear in the night sky at the same time, with Saturn, Mercury, Neptune, Venus, Uranus, Jupiter, and Mars all lining up in a neat row – a magnificent sky feast for the eyes known as a great planetary alignment.

Man from uncontacted Indigenous tribe emerges in Amazon, and villagers demonstrate a lighter
17th February 2025 phys.org | Ancient, Earth, Humans

In a rare encounter, a young man from an isolated Indigenous tribe approached a riverine community in Brazil’s Amazon, the country’s Indigenous affairs agency and local witnesses said Thursday.

AI to revolutionise fundamental physics and ‘could show how universe will end’
4th February 2025 | theguardian.com | Earth, Humans, Space, Tech

Advanced artificial intelligence is to revolutionise fundamental physics and could open a window on to the fate of the universe, according to Cern’s next director general.

Asteroid Bennu contains the ‘seeds of life,’ OSIRIS-REx samples reveal
30th January 2025 | livescience.com | Ancient, Earth, Space

Scientists have found all five nucelobases alongisde minerals essential for life as we know it on the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu. The two teams of researchers who made the discoveries published their findings Jan. 29 in two papers in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Hand axes discovered in Iraqi desert may go back 1.5 million years
30th January 2025 phys.org | Ancient, Earth, Humans

The focus of the prospecting campaign was on an area that during the Pleistocene housed a large lake, now completely dried up, with ancient wadis or dry riverbeds crossing the landscape. Egberts collected over 850 artifacts, ranging from very old hand axes from the Early or Old Paleolithic to Levallois reduction flakes from the Middle Paleolithic, all surface material.

We may know very little about the origin of dinosaurs
29th January 2025 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

A review of the oldest known dinosaurs has revealed that fossil evidence for their origin probably has not yet been discovered. Most of the earliest dinosaur fossils have been found in South America and Africa.

Did giant ice age beasts carve these vast caves in South America?
28th January 2025 | nature.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

Researchers are investigating who — or what — cut ancient tunnels in sandstone in Brazil and nearby nations.

Giant footprints in Mongolia could be from the largest bipedal dinosaur
27th January 2025 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

Footprints measuring 92cm in width found in Mongolia have raised the prospect of an as yet undiscovered skeleton of the largest bipedal dinosaur ever.

‘We are creating the fire equivalent of an ice age’: Humans have plunged Earth into the ‘Pyrocene’
27th January 2025 | livescience.com | Earth, Humans

I’m a historian of fire, and my reply is that we have both a narrative and an analog. The narrative is the unbroken saga of humanity and fire, a companionship that extends through all our existence as a species. The analog is that humanity’s fire practices have become so vast, especially in recent centuries, that we are creating the fire equivalent of an ice age.

Earliest evidence of hominins in Europe predates other finds by half a million years
22nd January 2025 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans

The bones are at least 1.95 million years old but could be up to 2.2 million years old. They may help build a picture of when early human ancestors left Africa and reached Europe and Asia, and the route they took. This has been an area of debate for decades. The paper was published in Nature Communications.

We finally know what 1,400-year-old ‘mystery rings’ in Australia are
20th January 2025 | livescience.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans

Our new study, published in Australian Archaeology, presents the results of the only known archaeological excavation of one of these rings combined with Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung understanding of these enigmatic places.

Enormous skull of 200-million-year-old giant dinosaur discovered in China
14th January 2025 | livescience.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

An enormous, extremely well preserved dinosaur skull unearthed in China belongs to a never-before-seen species, researchers say.

How the first animals changed the face of Earth forever
13th January 2025 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

The first animals with mineral skeletons changed the way sediments develop on Earth forever, according to new research.

New excavation of ‘rings of mystery’ in Victoria reveals rich Aboriginal history
8th January 2025 theconversation.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans

Our new study, published today in Australian Archaeology, presents the results of the only known archaeological excavation of one of these rings combined with Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung understanding of these enigmatic places.

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