Earth news stories

Study finds famous Australian caves are up to 500,000 years older than we thought – and it could help explain a megafauna mystery
27th September 2022 theconversation.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

South Australia’s Naracoorte Caves is one of the world’s best fossil sites, containing a record spanning more than half a million years. Among the remains preserved in layers of sand are the bones of many iconic Australian megafauna species that became extinct between 48,000 and 37,000 years ago.

Plants evolved even earlier than we thought, exquisite 3D fossils suggest
26th September 2022 | livescience.com | Ancient, Earth

The oldest green algae preserved in three dimensions may hint that plants originated earlier than previously believed.

Six recent discoveries that have changed how we think about human origins
23rd September 2022 theconversation.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans

Scientific study of human evolution historically reassured us of a comforting order to things. It has painted humans as as cleverer, more intellectual and caring than our ancestral predecessors…Over the last five years discoveries have upended this unbalanced view.

Earth’s First Continents Sank Into The Planet Before Rising Up Again
20th September 2022 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Earth

A new examination of some of the oldest rocks in the world suggests that the first continents on Earth were unstable, and sank back into the mantle before making their way out again and reforming.

This 380 Million-Year-Old Fossil Contains The Oldest Heart We’ve Ever Seen
16th September 2022 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

An ancient fossil from one of our planet’s earliest vertebrate organisms was found concealing an exciting surprise.

It’s Not Just The Amazon Being Torn Apart. These Are The Forests The World Is Losing
14th September 2022 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

The devastating destruction that’s happening across the Amazon might be what comes to your mind first when thinking about deforestation – but it’s by no means the only place where dwindling forests are a worry, as a new study highlights.

Oldest African dinosaur ever found unearthed in Zimbabwe
2nd September 2022 | livescience.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

The oldest definitive dinosaur species ever discovered in Africa — and one of the oldest dino species to walk Earth — has been unearthed in Zimbabwe, a new study finds.

Reconstructing alternative paths to complex multicellularity in Animals and Fungi from today’s genetic diversity
1st September 2022 | eurekalert.org | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

An international team of researchers with a central contribution from researchers at the Dept. of Biological Physics at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) has unravelled the evolutionary origins of animals and fungi.

Imag from: Geograph Britain and Ireland (Wiki Commons)

How many meteorites hit Earth every year?
29th August 2022 | livescience.com | Earth, Humans, Space

Every year, millions of rocky shards from outer space burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, many briefly flaring and appearing in the sky as “shooting stars.” But how many survive their high-speed plunges to strike the ground?

Dugong: Animal that inspired mermaid tales extinct in China
26th August 2022 | bbc.co.uk | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

Only three people surveyed from coastal communities in China reported seeing the dugong in the past five years.

Fossilised chompers help scientists sink their teeth into how climate impacted primate and human evolution
23rd August 2022 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

Researchers looked at the impact of climate on 17-million-year-old tooth fossils.

New evidence that water separates into two different liquids at low temperatures
23rd August 2022 phys.org | Earth, Humans, Weird

A new kind of “phase transition” in water was first proposed 30 years ago in a study by researchers from Boston University. Because the transition has been predicted to occur at supercooled conditions, however, confirming its existence has been a challenge.

Map may prove ‘Welsh Atlantis’ rooted in fact, say academics
23rd August 2022 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans

It is believed to be the Welsh Atlantis, a lost land lying below the water at Cardigan Bay. For at least 800 years, tales have been told of the legend of Cantre’r Gwaelod, but evidence that it really existed has been scant.

Australian research shows how the Mediterranean went from brine to megaflood to thriving marine ecosystem
20th August 2022 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Earth

An extraordinary megaflood occurred 5 million years ago as the Mediterranean rose 10 metres a day!

Weird and wonderful world of fungi shaped by evolutionary bursts, study finds
16th August 2022 phys.org | Earth, Weird

Scientists at the University of Bristol have discovered that the vast anatomical variety of fungi stems from evolutionary increases in multicellular complexity.

Prehistoric Brits used rare rock crystals to mark burial sites, research finds
11th August 2022 phys.org | Ancient, Earth, Humans

Distinctive and rare rock crystals were moved over long distances by Early Neolithic Brits and were used to mark their burial sites, according to groundbreaking new archaeological research.

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