Powering a massive biosphere on Earth, photosynthesis is the light-mediated reaction that converts carbon dioxide and water to carbohydrates and oxygen. About 2.3 billion years ago, this reaction led to the dramatic oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere. Evidence exists for oxygen-releasing photosynthesis evolving much earlier — perhaps as early as 3 billion years ago. However, the ...
Scientists have developed a new method for detecting traces of primordial life in ancient rock formations using potassium. The method relies on searching for high concentrations of potassium in ancient sedimentary rocks, rather than traditional methods that look for carbon, sulfur, or nitrogen—which can appear in ancient rocks through processes unrelated to ancient life. University ...
Archaeologists learn about the past by piecing together artifacts from material culture: The tools, artwork, and architecture left behind that tell us how ancient humans lived. But imagine being able to study their ancient DNA as well to learn about how different groups of people were related to each other, where they came from, or ...
A scientific approach has been used to re-identify huge birds etched into the desert plains of southern Peru around 2,000 years ago. The birds appear to be exotic to the region and further studies could help explain their significance. The study is published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. The lines and geoglyphs of Nasca ...
Humans settled in southwestern Amazonia and even experimented with agriculture much earlier than previously thought, according to an international team of researchers. Jose Capriles, assistant professor of anthropology, said: “We have long been aware that complex societies emerged in Llanos de Moxos in southwestern Amazonia, Bolivia, around 2,500 years ago, but our new evidence suggests that humans ...
When the landmass that is now the Indian subcontinent slammed into Asia about 50 million years ago, the collision changed the configuration of the continents, the landscape, the global climate, and more. Now, a team of Princeton University scientists has identified one more effect: The oxygen in the world’s oceans increased, altering the conditions for ...
Archaeologists at the University of Cincinnati used the latest technology to find evidence suggesting ancient Maya people grew surplus crops to support an active trade with neighbors up and down the Yucatan Peninsula. They will present their findings at the American Association of Geographers conference in Washington, D.C. The Maya civilization stretched across portions of ...
The largest study to date of ancient DNA from the Iberian Peninsula (modern-day Portugal and Spain) offers new insights into the populations that lived in this region over the last 8,000 years. The most startling discovery suggests that local Y chromosomes were almost completely replaced during the Bronze Age. Starting in 2500 B.C. and continuing ...
Over the last 540 million years, the Earth has weathered three major ice ages — periods during which global temperatures plummeted, producing extensive ice sheets and glaciers that have stretched beyond the polar caps. Now scientists at MIT, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of California at Berkeley have identified the ...
When UC Santa Barbara geology professor emeritus James Kennett and colleagues set out years ago to examine signs of a major cosmic impact that occurred toward the end of the Pleistocene epoch, little did they know just how far-reaching the projected climatic effect would be. Kennett noted: “It’s much more extreme than I ever thought when ...
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