|
|
|
Life on Earth: Quicker start than thought? College Station, Texas (UPI) Nov 11, 2009
U.S. scientists say they've discovered Earth's climate was much cooler than thought billions of years ago, which may mean life developed earlier than thought. Researchers from Texas A&M, Yale and Stanford universities say their findings could change current ideas about the formation of the earliest life on the planet. The scientists say they've determined the Earth's climate was perhaps ... read moreA Hazy View Of Early Earth
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Oct 19, 2009Haze in the early Earth atmosphere could have played a crucial role in the origin of life. By forming a protective shield, the haze would have safeguarded organic substances from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. "Knowing more about the atmospheric conditions right before life began to develop could give researchers clues to how exactly life developed," says H. Langley DeWitt of the ... more
|
|
![]() | |||||||||
Scientists find flying reptile an odd duck
Portsmouth, England (UPI) Oct 14, 2009 Fossils of a flying reptile found in China reveal a strangely disjointed creature, British paleontologists say. "It's as if someone said, 'Let's nail these two together and make a sort of chimera, that'll really confuse everybody,'" said Dave Unwin of the University of Leicester in England. This version of pterodactyl appears so strange it conjures up the image of an old second-r ... more Huge dinosaur find in China may include new species: state media
Beijing (AFP) Oct 14, 2009Paleontologists in east China may have discovered the remains of a new species of dinosaur at what is said to be the world's largest group of fossilised dinosaur bones, state media said Wednesday. Scientists in Zhucheng city, Shandong province, have for months been exploring a gully over 500 metres (1,650 feet) long and 26 metres deep that is strewn with thousands of dinosaur bones, the Jilu ... more Date of Earth's Quaternary age revised
London (UPI) Sep 23, 2009 The International Commission on Stratigraphy says it has revised the date of the start of Earth's prehistoric Quaternary Period by 800,000 years. The London-headquartered commission -- the authority for geological science -- decided to end decades of controversy by formally declaring when the Quaternary Period started. The Quaternary age covers both the ice age and moment early man ... more Key Ingredient In Cooking Up Prebiotic Molecules
Potsdam, Germany (SPX) Sep 18, 2009German scientists investigating the complex chemical mixture thought to be present in the early Earth's oceans have found that amino acids can be 'cooked' into many other important chemical building blocks of life when embedded in salt crusts. Results of the laboratory experiments will be presented by Stefan Fox at the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam, Germany. Approximately ... more |
. |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
. |
|
. |
Minute DNA change could lead to evolution
Cambridge, England (UPI) Aug 5, 2009 One tiny change in DNA could lead to the evolution of a new species, an English researcher reported. A team lead by a University of Cambridge scientist explored this possibility when they studied two closely related flycatcher populations in the Solomon Islands, reporting their results in the American Naturalists. The scientists said they studied two sub-species with the same bod ... more Giant marine worms lived 475 million years ago: scientists
Cabaneros National Park, Spain (AFP) Aug 3, 2009Spanish researchers said Monday they have discovered evidence of a type of giant worm that lived 475 million years ago and was up to one metre (three feet) in length. The fossilised tracks of the marine worms were found in the Cabaneros National Park in central Spain in an area that was a seabed during the Lower Ordovician period, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) said. ... more Extraterrestrial Platinum Was Stirred Into The Earth
Canberra, Australia (SPX) Jul 30, 2009A research program aimed at using platinum as an exploration guide for nickel has for the first time been able to put a time scale on the planet's large-scale convection processes. The research is reported in a Nature paper titled "Progressive mixing of meteoritic veneer into the early Earth's deep mantle". Report author CSIRO Minerals Down Under Flagship researcher Dr Stephen Barnes said ... more Mystery mechanism drove global warming 55 million years ago
Paris (AFP) July 13, 2009A runaway spurt of global warming 55 million years ago turned Earth into a hothouse but how this happened remains worryingly unclear, scientists said on Monday. Previous research into this period, called the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, estimates the planet's surface temperature blasted upwards by between five and nine degrees Celsius (nine and 16.2 degrees Fahrenheit) in just ... more |
. |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
. |
|
. |
|
|
| The contents herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2009 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy statement |