Earth news stories

Humans did not accelerate the decline of the ‘Green Sahara’ and may have managed to hold back the onset of the Sahara desert by around 500 years, according to new research led by UCL.

Islands along the coastline were seemingly ice-free 17,700 years ago, so an early route along the coastline of Canada might have been viable well before an alternative, inland route.

New visual and arithmetic clues suggest that the mythical city of Atlantis may have been hiding in plain sight the entire time, in rather an unlikely place.

The first report on the state of the world’s fungi has revealed that if the natural properties of fungus can be harnessed and developed, plastic could be broken down naturally in weeks rather than years.

The 17-minute “mixed-reality” work ‘Awavena’ melds augmented reality, 360-degree film footage, and VR to tell the story of the sacred brew.

A multimedia guide is being created so that viewers will be able to virtually visit the vast underground realms of Beit Lehi, the lost city of Ancient Israel.

First Nations peoples have rights and a moral obligation to care for water under their law and customs. Yet surprisingly to Hooper and other Indigenous activists in the region their cultural needs were not considered in water flow plans.

Climate change may have played a more important role in the extinction of Neanderthals than previously believed, according to a new study.

Researchers found that cold periods coincided with an apparent disappearance of our evolutionary cousins in different parts of the continent, followed by the appearance of our species, Homo sapiens.

The ancient tracks at Engare Sero have stood the test of time, but they won’t last if left exposed to the elements.

Five scientists were part of an international team that took animal fat residue from ceramic pots used by residents of the ancient Neolithic city of Çatalhöyük in southern Turkey.

Researchers are proposing to add a new arrow to our planetary-defense quiver: steering small, benign near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) into big and hazardous ones, in a dramatic, high-stakes game of cosmic billiards.

By studying water-rich meteorites on Earth, Museum scientist Helena Bates is working out where in the solar system the meteorites – and the water they contain – originated from.

In a new study researchers provide experimental evidence for previously unknown abrupt changes in proton (H+) transfer kinetics in water at 3.98 degrees Celsius.

It took an international group of researchers 13 years to crack the code and their efforts are already bearing fruit—one study has pinned down the genes responsible for wheat allergies and sensitivity.

Earth has a habit of picking up, and later discarding, small companions called “minimoons,” and these tiny objects could help scientists solve the mysteries of asteroids.