If proto-Earth had all its parts and chemistry replaced to become the Earth we know today, can the two still be considered the same planet? That’s the planetary version of Theseus’s Paradox, an old philosophical puzzle about identity and perception. The popular consensus until recently was that Earth’s chemistry changed completely after a giant meteorite […]
Scientists Just Discovered an Exotic New Element in Apollo-Era Moon Dust
Science has come a long way since NASA launched the Apollo 17 mission. Over the last 50 years, researchers have developed advanced technologies and techniques that far surpass those available in 1972. This progress is exactly what NASA was hoping for when the Apollo 17 astronauts—the last humans to set foot on the Moon—returned to […]
New Study Fuels Debate Over World-Changing Comet Strike 12,800 Years Ago
Roughly 12,800 years ago, as Earth was emerging from its last great ice age, temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere suddenly plummeted back to near-glacial conditions. The cause of this abrupt shift—known as the Younger Dryas cool period—remains a mystery to this day, but new evidence may give credence to its most controversial explanation. Researchers analyzed […]
Intraterrestrials: The Most Alien Life We’ve Ever Seen Is Right Beneath Our Feet
While the possibility of life beyond Earth has long captivated the public, there are already tiny organisms on our own planet that are as alien to us as anything we’ve imagined. These microbes are found in places once thought inhospitable to life, such as inside volcanoes, underneath the Earth’s crust in the deep sea, or […]
New Technique Turns Ordinary Rocks Into Carbon-Capturing Machines
Of all the planet-warming greenhouse gases human activity releases into the atmosphere, carbon dioxide is the most significant emission. As such, experts have suggested that, in addition to drastically lowering our fossil fuel use, we should actively remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. What’s known as carbon capture technology, however, is usually expensive and/or […]