Earth has been habitable for 4.3 billion years, and the earliest rock record indicates the
presence of a microbial biosphere by at least 3.4 billion years ago—and disputably earlier …

The oxygen content of the Earth's surface environment is thought to have increased in two
broad steps: the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE) around the Archean–Proterozoic boundary …

Cyanobacteria are among the most diverse prokaryotic phyla, with morphotypes ranging
from unicellular to multicellular filamentous forms, including those able to terminally (ie …

Sulphur isotope data from early Archaean rocks suggest that microbes with metabolisms
based on sulphur existed almost 3.5 billion years ago, leading to suggestions that the …

Geothermics is an area of geophysics that studies the thermal state and history of the interior
of the Earth. Solar heat penetrates only into the topmost layers of the Earth's crust. Diurnal …

A murmur is heard from the depths of time. Life and Earth are engaged in a dialog that has
lasted for four billion years. Sometimes it'sa whisper, sometimes a roar. One part sometimes …

Background Cyanobacteria are one of the oldest and morphologically most diverse
prokaryotic phyla on our planet. The early development of an oxygen-containing …

“Natural selection can preserve innovations, but it cannot create them. Nature's many
innovations—some uncannily perfect—call for natural principles that accelerate life's ability …

Abstract The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) investigation
will use a 2-megapixel color camera with a focusable macro lens aboard the rover, Curiosity …

Although the notion of an early origin and diversification of life on Earth during the Archaean
eon has received increasing support in geochemical, sedimentological and …