It sounds like something out of a Hollywood movie script, but it actually happened: Shark evolution researchers say rising ocean temperatures more than 100 million years ago may have allowed sharks to grow bigger, swim faster and become the powerful predators we know today. In a paper published last month in the journal Current Biology, … Read more
Earth has undergone multiple mass extinctions during its existence; for example, the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE) has decimated the planet’s marine ecosystems. But according to a new study by international researchers from Caltech, George Mason University, the University of Naples and elsewhere, the destructive effects of the T-OAE over a period of 300,000 to … Read more
Credit: NASA/Ryan Fitzgibbons What do you give to an ocean that has everything? This year, in celebration of National Ocean Month, NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite is giving us a unique look at our home planet. The visualizations created using data from the satellite, which was launched on February 8, are already … Read more
The world’s oldest crystals show evidence of exposure to both fresh and salt water during their formation, a new study reports. This indicates that the very early Earth had both oceans and land on which rainwater could collect. Although it is hell in many ways, it indicates a planet much more similar to the one … Read more
Space enthusiasts will know: it’s easy to get caught up in a wealth of fascinating developments, from missions to the lunar surface to new discoveries in exoplanet science. But what really excites me as an astronomer right now is a largely overlooked development here on Earth that could have profound implications for how we explore … Read more