The geological time scale, established by scientists in the mid-19th century and agreed upon internationally, breaks down the eternity of our planet's history into more manageable units than years.

The origin of life on Earth has long been a mystery that has eluded scientists. A key question is how much of the history of life on Earth is lost to time. It is quite common for a single species to ...

Paleontologists who study earth’s ancient fossil record might not seem to be the obvious choice when asking about the prevalence of intelligent life in the cosmos. But paleontology, the study of ...

The authors of “A History of Life in 100 Fossils” write about the secrets of the animal kingdom Paul D. Taylor and Aaron O'Dea Fossils can illustrate evolutionary themes: speciation, evolutionary ...

Scientists believe they have identified the oldest fossils on Earth, dating back at least 3.75 billion years and possibly even 4.2 billion years, in rocks found at a remote location in northern Québec ...

Assuming the role of a peripatetic tour guide, Henry Gee in “A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth” takes the reader on an exuberant romp through evolution, like a modern-day Willy Wonka of genetic ...

This publication has been produced to meet accepted Accessibility standards and contains various accessibility features including a table of contents, a page list to navigate to pages corresponding to ...

A scrappy science project led to a significant discovery: two new species of a rare organism that could elucidate a fundamental transition in the history of life on our planet. A scrappy science ...