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Study suggests tectonic plates began moving half a billion years earlier than thought
While previous studies had argued that Earth's crust 3.5 billion years ago looked like these Hawaiian lavas, a new study led by UChicago scientists suggests by then much of it had already been transformed into lighter-colored felsic rock by plate tectonics. The Earth's history is written in its elements, but as the tectonic plates slip and slide over and under each other over time, they muddy that evidence-and with it the secrets of why Earth can sustain life.

’Mysterious’ ancient creature was definitely an animal, research confirms
It lived well over 550 million years ago, is known only through fossils and has variously been described as looking a bit like a jellyfish, a worm, a fungus and lichen. But was the 'mysterious' Dickinsonia an animal, or was it something else? Recent findings suggest animals had evolved several million years before the 'Cambrian Explosion' that has been the focus of attention for studies into animal evolution for so long.

’Mysterious’ ancient creature was definitely an animal, research confirms
It lived well over 550 million years ago, is known only through fossils and has variously been described as looking a bit like a jellyfish, a worm, a fungus and lichen. But was the 'mysterious' Dickinsonia an animal, or was it something else? A new study by researchers at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, and the British Geological Survey provides strong proof that Dickinsonia was an animal, confirming recent findings suggesting that animals evolved millions of years before the so-called Cambrian Explosion of animal life.

Tectonic plates ’weaker than previously thought’, say scientists
Experiments carried out at Oxford University have revealed that tectonic plates are weaker than previously thought.  The finding explains an ambiguity in lab work that led scientists to believe these rocks were much stronger than they appeared to be in the natural world. This new knowledge will help us understand how tectonic plates can break to form new boundaries.

Ship exhaust makes oceanic thunderstorms more intense
Thunderstorms directly above two of the world's busiest shipping lanes are significantly more powerful than storms in areas of the ocean where ships don't travel, according to new University of Washington research. A new study mapping lightning around the globe finds lightning strokes occur nearly twice as often directly above heavily-trafficked shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea than they do in areas of the ocean adjacent to shipping lanes that have similar climates.

New research disputes claims that climate change helped spark the Syrian civil war
New research disputes claims that climate change helped spark the Syrian civil war A new study, published today in the journal Political Geography , shows that there is no sound evidence that global climate change was a factor in causing the Syrian civil war. Claims that a major drought caused by anthropogenic climate change was a key factor in starting the Syrian civil war have gained considerable traction since 2015 and have become an accepted narrative in the press, most recently repeated by former US vice president Al Gore in relation to Brexit.

Find of Human Bones in South Mexico: Stalagmite Reveals Their Age as 13,000
A prehistoric human skeleton found on the Yucatán Peninsula is at least 13,000 years old and most likely dates from a glacial period at the end of the most recent ice age, the late Pleistocene. A German-Mexican team of researchers led by Wolfgang Stinnesbeck and Arturo González González has now dated the fossil skeleton based on a stalagmite that grew on the hip bone.

Conservation hindered by geographical mismatches between capacity and need
New research suggests that geographical mismatches between conservation needs and expertise may hinder global conservation goals. Experts from the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus and other institutions have examined geographical patterns within the leadership of the conservation science publishing system focusing on the affiliation of journal editors, who serve as gatekeepers and leaders in the scientific process.

Sense of smell is key factor in bird navigation
How do birds navigate over long distances' This complex question has been the subject of debate and controversy among scientists for decades, with Earth's magnetic field and the bird's own sense of smell among the factors said to play a part. Now, researchers from the universities of Oxford, Barcelona and Pisa have shown in a new experiment that olfaction - or sense of smell - is almost certainly a key factor in long-distance oceanic navigation, eliminating previous misgivings about this hypothesis.

CO2 and temperature decoupling at the million-year scale during the Cretaceous Greenhouse
Optical microscopic view of a cuticle of the Frenelopsis fossil conifer used to reconstruct the atmospheric CO2 concentration in the Cretaceous.

Whales turn tail at ocean mining noise
A new international study has measured the effect of loud sounds on migrating humpback whales as concern grows as oceans become noisier. University of Queensland School of Veterinary Science 's Dr Rebecca Dunlop said one of the main sources of ocean noise was oil and gas exploration, due to geologists firing off loud acoustic air guns to probe the structure of the ocean floor in search of fossil fuels.

Study identifies dinosaur ’missing link’ | University of Cambridge
A 'Frankenstein's monster' dinosaur may be the missing link between two major dinosaur groups, plugging what was previously a big gap between them.  Chilesaurus almost looks like it was stitched together from different animals, which is why it baffled everybody. Matthew Baron A bizarre dinosaur which looked like a raptor but was in fact a vegetarian may be the missing link between plant-eating dinosaurs and theropods, the group that includes carnivores such as Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor .

Arrival of modern humans in Southeast Asia questioned
Humans may have exited of Africa and arrived in Southeast Asia 20,000 years earlier than previously thought, a new study involving University of Queensland researchers suggests. Findings from the Macquarie University-led study also suggest humans could have potentially made the crossing to Australia even earlier than the accepted 60,000 to 65,000 years ago.

Scientists Improve Forecast of Increasing Hazard on Ecuadorian Volcano
Researchers use a powerful technique known as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar to show an increase in volcanic danger on Ecuador's Cotopaxi. Researchers from the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and the Instituto Geofisico-Escuela Politecnica Nacional (IGEPN) of Ecuador, showed an increasing volcanic danger on Cotopaxi in Ecuador using a powerful technique known as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR).

Manmade and natural earthquakes share shaking potential | Stanford News
New research shows manmade and naturally occurring earthquakes in the central U.S. share the same characteristics, information that will help scientists predict and mitigate damage from future earthquakes. Whether an earthquake occurs naturally or as a result of unconventional oil and gas recovery, the destructive power is the same, according to a new study appearing in Science Advances Aug.

Indian monsoons have strengthened over past 15 years
An MIT study published today finds that the Indian summer monsoons, which bring rainfall to the country each year between June and September, have strengthened in the last 15 years over north central India. This heightened monsoon activity has reversed a 50-year drying period during which the monsoon season brought relatively little rain to northern and central India.

Strength of tectonic plates may explain shape of Tibetan Plateau, study finds
Geoscientists have long puzzled over the mechanism that created the Tibetan Plateau, but a new study finds that the landform's history may be controlled primarily by the strength of the tectonic plates whose collision prompted its uplift. Given that the region is one of the most seismically active areas in the world, understanding the plateau's geologic history could give scientists insight to modern day earthquake activity.

Artifacts suggest humans arrived in Australia earlier than thought
When and how the first humans made their way to Australia has been an evolving story. While it is accepted that humans appeared in Africa some 200,000 years ago, scientists in recent years have placed the approximate date of human settlement in Australia further and further back in time, as part of ongoing questions about the timing, the routes and the means of migration out of Africa.

Key to Speeding Up Carbon Sequestration Discovered
Scientists at Caltech and USC have discovered a way to speed up the slow part of the chemical reaction that ultimately helps the earth to safely lock away, or sequester, carbon dioxide into the ocean. Simply adding a common enzyme to the mix, the researchers have found, can make that rate-limiting part of the process go 500 times faster.  A paper about the work appears online the week of July 17 ahead of publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Rising temperatures are curbing ocean’s capacity to store carbon
If there is anywhere for carbon dioxide to disappear in large quantities from the atmosphere, it is into the Earth's oceans. There, huge populations of plankton can soak up carbon dioxide from surface waters and gobble it up as a part of photosynthesis, generating energy for their livelihood. When plankton die, they sink thousands of feet, taking with them the carbon that was once in the atmosphere, and stashing it in the deep ocean.