Billions of years ago, Earth’s atmosphere was hostile, with barely any oxygen and toxic conditions for life. Researchers from the Earth-Life Science Institute studied Japan’s iron-rich hot springs, ...

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. In the 1931 movie ...

Oxygen, essential to our existence, took nearly a billion years to appear in significant quantities on Earth, despite the presence of microorganisms capable of producing it. This delay in our planet's ...

Scientists believe they’ve found evidence that life on Earth is over a billion years older than anyone believed was realistic. New research used machine learning to scan ancient meteorites and fossils ...

"One Hand Clapping" draws from neuroscience, evolution, philosophy and a rich tapestry of cultural references to examine how Earth's history led to the formation of our own minds. The book reveals the ...

Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Why Trust Us? Here’s what you will learn when you read this story: Abiogenesis—the emergence of ...

New research from Japan's iron-rich hot springs shows how early microbes may have harnessed iron and oxygen during the Great Oxygenation Event. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn ...

Early Earth may not have had the right ingredients for life — until a nearby Mars-size planet crashed into it, two new studies hint. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an ...

Earth is so far the only known planet on which life exists—with liquid water and a stable atmosphere. However, the conditions were not conducive to life when it formed. The gas-dust cloud from which ...

AFTER THE second world war, Leo Szilard, a pioneering nuclear physicist who had worked on the Manhattan Project, decided to move into biology instead: life; not death. But there was a problem. As a ...

Discover a vast, previously unknown world of microbial life that survives—and even thrives—for hundreds of millions of years in some of the planet's harshest environments. After a grueling descent ...

"This is the story of Earth like you’ve never seen it before—from the first spark of life to prehistoric monsters to the rise of humans… and all the weird stuff in between." We live on a magnificently ...