Slow orbital changes caused pulses in Earth's oxygen cycle 500 million years ago, which spurred explosions of animal life.

Scientists are uncovering signs that Earth has been hit by powerful cosmic blasts that leave little trace on the surface yet ...

Scientists found 3.3 billion-year-old biosignatures in ancient meteorites and fossils—a billion years older than we thought possible.

Ancient Chinese astronomers observed a solar eclipse in 709 BCE with remarkable detail. These old records are now helping ...

MIT researchers traced chemical fossils in ancient rocks back to the ancestors of today’s demosponges. A team of geochemists ...

A team of international researchers say they've uncovered new data on the world's first recorded solar eclipse using a ...

Ancient glaciers reshaped Earth’s surface and shifted ocean chemistry, fueling the rise of complex life, a new study found. Calved icebergs from the Twin Glaciers are seen in 2013 off Greenland's ...

A collision between Earth and a massive Mars-sized protoplanet likely caused the formation of our moon. Now scientists from the Max Planck Institute suggest that doomed planet was likely a rowdy ...

For decades, helium has been produced with natural gas, generating huge carbon emissions. Now, geologists are looking for new ...

Learn how sulfur-based molecules essential to life may have formed before the first living systems appeared.

Formed millions to billions of years ago, diamonds can shine light into the darkest and oldest parts of the Earth's mantle. The analysis of ancient, superdeep diamonds dug up from mines in Brazil and ...

Scientists widely agree that an ancient planet likely smashed into Earth as it was forming billions of years ago, spewing debris that coalesced into the moon that decorates our night sky today. The ...