In a new, yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper, scientists from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland argue that the massive and mysterious tubelike fossils known as “prototaxites” deserve their own life ...

Around 2.3 billion years ago, the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE) marked a major turning point in Earth’s history. The increase ...

Long before forests of tall trees covered the planet, Earth was ruled by something stranger: towering, trunk like organisms that rose roughly 26 feet into the air. New analysis of exquisitely ...

How did life begin on Earth? While scientists have theories, they don't yet fully understand the precise chemical steps that led to biology, or when the first primitive life forms appeared. Subscribe ...

Some 400 million years ago, long before dinosaurs or even trees had evolved, an enigmatic organism towered over the landscape like a prehistoric monolith. Now, new research makes the case that the ...

The Great Oxygenation Event marked a massive transition in life on Earth, when oxygen became plentiful and organisms suddenly had to adapt. Current conditions in Japanese hot springs give clues as to ...

Scientists at the University of Tokyo are readying these weirdly beautiful robots to study fantastic primitive life forms fighting against each other. But why do they look like human flesh shredders?

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. We’ve pieced together a remarkably detailed timeline of ...

How did life begin on Earth? While scientists have theories, they don’t yet fully understand the precise chemical steps that led to biology, or when the first primitive life forms appeared. But what ...

The study of early Earth microbial life and its associated organic matter provides crucial insights into the origins and evolution of life on our planet. Recent work has illuminated the remarkable ...