Study casts doubt on 'Snowball Earth' theory
Remains of photosynthesizing microbes in prehistoric rocks suggest Earth was not ice-bound

Paired microbes eliminate methane using sulfur pathway
Anaerobic microbes in the Earth's oceans consume 90 percent of the methane produced by methane hydrates - methane trapped in ice - preventing large amounts of methane from reaching the atmosphere.

Tiny bubbles a storehouse of knowledge
Fluid inclusions - tiny bubbles of fluid or vapor trapped inside rock as it forms - are clues to the location of ores and even petroleum; and they are time capsules that contain insights on the power of volcanoes and hints of life in the universe.

Hot springs microbes hold key to dating sedimentary rocks, researchers say
Scientists studying microbial communities and the growth of sedimentary rock at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park have made a surprising discovery about the geological record of life and the environment.

Rocks could reveal secrets of life on Earth - and Mars
A new UK project could help detect evidence for life on Mars, as well as improve our understanding of how it evolved on Earth.

Dinosaur Deaths Outsourced to India?
A series of monumental volcanic eruptions in India may have killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, not a meteor impact in the Gulf of Mexico.

Seismic images show dinosaur-killing meteor made bigger splash
The most detailed three-dimensional seismic images yet of the Chicxulub crater, a mostly submerged and buried impact crater on the Mexico coast, may modify a theory explaining the extinction of 70 percent of life on Earth 65 million years ago.

Mass extinction's cause: 'Sick Earth'
USC earth scientists turn up clues to explain disappearance of 90 percent of ancient species

Plant A Tree And Save The Earth?
Can planting a tree stop the sea level from rising, the ice caps from melting and hurricanes from intensifying?

Tropical Forests -- Earth's Air Conditioner
Planting and protecting trees--which trap and absorb carbon dioxide as they grow--can help to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Investigating Life In Extreme Environments Report Gives Hints On Facts Of Life
Environments labelled as extreme are numerous on Earth and they present a wide variety of features and characteristics.

Bacteria Grown In Simulated Martian Environment
A University of Arkansas researcher has become the first scientist to grow methane-producing microorganisms under some of the conditions found on Mars.

Life Cycle Mapped Of Unique Organism In Extreme Environments
Microorganisms that thrive under extreme conditions, such as hot acid, not only can be used as a model for how life got started on earth or can emerge on other planets but can also provide knowledge about humans.

Africa and the global carbon cycle
The African continent has a large and growing role in the global carbon cycle, with potentially important climate change implications.

Planet Earth, getting too hot for health?
Global warming — an increase in the average temperature of the planet because of human activities that are raising greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere

Contributions of nitrogen deposition and forest regrowth to terrestrial carbon uptake
This study shows that elevated nitrogen deposition would not significantly enhance land carbon uptake unless we consider its effects on re-growing forests.

The planetary biology of cytochrome P450 aromatases
Joining a model for the molecular evolution of a protein family to the paleontological and geological records (geobiology)

Marine geochemical data assimilation in an efficient Earth System
The authors have extended the 3-D ocean based “Grid ENabled Integrated Earth system model” (GENIE-1) to help understand the role of ocean biogeochemistry and marine sediments in the long-term

Did you know? The oldest organisms live in waste repositories
Some of the oldest organisms - Archaea - live in waste repositories.

Marine scientists determine how chemistry keeps weird worms out of hot water
A research team has determined that water chemistry controls the location and distribution of two species of weird worms that inhabit deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites.