While NASA rovers on the surface of Mars look for hints of life, researchers back on Earth are studying ‘echoes of life’ from ancient basins – hoping that the two sites might be similar.
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Articles on Ancient sediments
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Pollen can become preserved in sediment deposits over thousands, or even millions, of years.
A new environmental record for a prehistoric site in Kenya helped researchers figure out how external conditions influenced which of our ancient ancestors lived there, with what way of life.
The analysis suggests that there was a mass extinction event at the time of the end-Permian, on land - and that it happened at the same time as the marine end-Permian extinction.
Evidence shows Native Americans in New England lived lightly on the land for thousands of years. It wasn’t until Europeans arrived that the landscape experienced major human impacts.
Did you recently hear news that Earth’s oldest pigments were hot pink? That’s not quite right. When they were in living bacteria a billion years ago, they were performing photosynthesis – and green.
Top contributors
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Specialist Museum Scientist and Head of Department (National Museum, Bloemfontein) and Research Affiliate, University of the Free State
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Professor Emerita of Biology, Indiana University
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Professor of Environmental Science, Emerson College
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Director, Harvard Forest, Harvard University
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Dean of the Harpur College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York
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Director of the Human Origins Program, Smithsonian Institution
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Senior Research Fellow, Nelson Mandela University
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Lecturer of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Bryant University
