All life on Earth can be traced back to a Last Universal Common Ancestor, or LUCA—and it likely lived on Earth only 400 ...

An artist's impression of the collision between the early Earth and Theia, which may have formed the moon MPS / Mark A. Garlick Around 4.5 billion years ago, a planet called Theia is thought to have ...

The investigation suggests that LUCA lived on Earth 4.2 billion years ago and had an immune system that could fight off ...

A major study shows complex cells evolved gradually in an oxygen-poor world, challenging long-held assumptions about life’s ...

Complex life may have started its rise in Earth’s oxygen-free oceans nearly a billion years earlier than anyone imagined.

"This is maybe the first direct evidence that we've preserved the proto-Earth materials." Scientists have identified what may be the first direct evidence of material left over from the "proto-Earth," ...

Tom has a Master's degree in Journalism. His editorial work covers anything from archaeology and the environment to technology and culture. Tom has a Master's degree in Journalism. His editorial work ...

For decades, geologists labeled a billion-year stretch of Earth’s history—from 1.8 to 0.8 billion years ago—as the “Boring Billion.” They assumed not much occurred during the time: mountain building ...

Around 4.5 billion years ago, a planet called Theia is thought to have smashed into newborn Earth. The messy collision kicked up debris, which probably formed our nighttime companion, the moon. While ...