Lovelock’s environmental research improved humanity’s understanding of pollutants, but he’s best known for his hypothesis that Earth behaves like a self-regulating organism, which changed how scientists view the planet.

Researchers engineered strands of RNA that can link amino acids together, suggesting a way that RNA and proteins may have emerged together to create the earliest forms of life.

Researchers propose that some of the planet’s earliest photosynthesizers benefited from a slowing of the Earth’s rotation that allowed them to produce a surplus of oxygen and paved the way for more complex life.  

If confirmed, the findings indicate that animals appeared on Earth millions of years earlier than previously believed.

Electrical storms, rather than meteorites as scientists had previously thought, could have unlocked phosphorus necessary for the development of ancient life, according to a new study.

The time period, which spans 770,000 to 126,000 years ago, started with a reversal of the planet’s magnetic field.

Developing computational tools to analyze the reams of microbial sequencing data his lab generates, the UC San Diego microbiologist is a pioneer of microbiome research.

If the structures identified in a 2.1-billion-year-old rock are really signs of burrowing organisms, it would push back the earliest known mobile organisms by 1.5 billion years.

From journeys into mines to explorations of volcanoes on the ocean floor, deep voyages reveal the richness of the planet’s deep biosphere.

Microbes were living on land as early as 3.22 billion years ago, fossilized rocks show, 500 million years earlier than previously documented.

A new estimate bumps up the area previously estimated to be covered by running water by more than 40 percent.

A new study counters the popular theory that after Mount Toba blew its top 74,000 years ago, humans almost went extinct.

A new analysis of microbial data estimates that the world is home to 1 trillion species—of which only 0.001 percent have been discovered.

A new estimate of the origin of life on Earth pushes back the date by 300 million years.

Reconsidering the uniqueness of life on our planet

In the book's prologue, author David Waltham compares a fictitious planet to Earth, highlighting the biologically supportive luck that our planet has enjoyed.

In order to adapt to this century’s changing temperatures, vertebrates will need to evolve much faster than in previous eras.

People are currently driving the planet on a crash course with global stability. Something must be done.

Sometime today, Earth’s 7 billionth person was born.