This model reveals how vastly different the atmosphere was on ancient Earth, and how life may have first emerged. The key to unlocking the secrets of distant planets starts right here on Earth.

For more than 25 years, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, conducting research ...

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, ...

The first molecules necessary for life on Earth could have been created when tiny flickers of “microlightning” between drops of water sparked the necessary chemical reactions. “This is a new way to ...

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) are pleased to announce the popular Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) web site is turning 10. For a ...

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 ...

Emerging evidence suggests that plate tectonics, or the recycling of Earth's crust, may have begun much earlier than previously thought — and may be a big reason that our planet harbors life. When you ...

The group of rare earth elements (REEs) comprises a total of 17 elements, all of which possess similar chemical properties. In addition to the two lightest elements, scandium and yttrium, the group ...

When you think about Earth, you might think of a giant rock, floating around in space, making laps around the sun. A rock that just happens to have critters, plants, and people crawling around its ...

Questions about the origin and nature of Earth and the life on it have long preoccupied human thought and the scientific endeavor. Deciphering the planet's history and processes could improve the ...