Washington, D.C.— The Earth’s original atmosphere held very little oxygen. This began to change around 2.4 billion years ago when oxygen levels increased dramatically during what scientists call the “Great Oxidation Event.” The cause of this event has puzzled scientists, but researchers writing in Nature* have found indications in ancient sedimentary rocks that it may [...]
Latest Earth News
Discovery in amber reveals ancient biology of termites
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The analysis of a termite entombed for 100 million years in an ancient piece of amber has revealed the oldest example of “mutualism” ever discovered between an animal and microorganism, and also shows the unusual biology that helped make this one of the most successful, although frequently despised insect groups in the [...]
Large sponges may be reattached to coral reefs
Key Largo, Fla. – April 27, 2009 – A...
Fire is an important and under-appreciated part of global climate change
Fire must be accounted for as an integral part...
Mangroves save lives in storms, study of 1999 super cyclone finds
DURHAM, N.C. – A new study of storm-related deaths...
Imaging and discovery from USArray and EarthScope
Unprecedented dense deployment of EarthScope USArray Transportable Array, Flexible...
Recent Earth News :
MADISON, WI, APRIL 7, 2009 — A recent study conducted in the Midwestern United States examined the effects of harsh wet conditions on both cultivated and uncultivated soils, vastly advancing the knowledge of water’s effects on aggregation. Soil aggregation is an important soil attribute that is related to the physical-chemical state of the soil, and [...]
DURHAM, NC – Rainforest reserves – even those disturbed by roads – provide an important buffer against fires that are devastating parts of the Brazilian Amazon, according to a new study by a trio of researchers at Duke University published April 8 in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE.
“Our findings show that reserves are making [...]
Study unravels why certain fishes went extinct 65 million years ago
posted in Animals, Earth, Headlines, SMFossil herrings from the Eocene Green River Formation of the western United States where Colorado, Utah and Nevada meet. Herrings are one of the small-bodied groups of bony fishes that survived the end-Cretaceous extinction and persist to this day in marine environments.
Credit: Photo by Matt Friedman
Large size and a fast bite spelled doom for [...]
CHAMPAIGN, IL—Herbicide drift, which occurs when pesticides “drift” from the targeted application area to a nearby non-targeted area, is a particular concern in Midwestern regions of the United States. In the Midwest, where the topography is relatively flat and large-scale farms and agriculture production facilities reside side-by-side with housing developments and woodlands, herbicide drift can [...]
This is the location of the core drilling in the Pilbara Craton, West Australia.
Credit: Hiroshi Ohmoto/Yumiko Watanabe
Red jasper cored from layers 3.46 billion years old suggests that not only did the oceans contain abundant oxygen then, but that the atmosphere was as oxygen rich as it is today, according to geologists.
This jasper or hematite-rich chert [...]
This is the aftermath of an ice storm in a pecan grove near Eufaula, Okla.
Credit: Photo by O.B.
STILLWATER, OK—Ice storms and other severe weather can have devastating impacts on agricultural crops, including perennial tree crops. Major ice storms occur at least once a decade, with truly catastrophic “icing events” recorded once or twice a century [...]
Scientists like to pay it forward. According to a new study by Université de Montréal professors Christian Dagenais and Michel Janosz, most academics are quite open to knowledge transfer.
“We debunked the myth that researchers are so consumed by their work that they don’t have time for knowledge transfer,” says Dagenais, a professor at [...]