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Category: evolution – Page 10

Scientists discover new microbes in Earth’s deep soil

Scientists have discovered a new phylum of microbes in Earth’s Critical Zone, an area of deep soil that restores water quality. Ground water, which becomes drinking water, passes through where these microbes live, and they consume the remaining pollutants. The paper, “Diversification, niche adaptation and evolution of a candidate phylum thriving in the deep Critical Zone,” is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Leonardo da Vinci once said, “We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot.” James Tiedje, an expert in microbiology at Michigan State University, agrees with da Vinci. But he aims to change this through his work on the Critical Zone, part of the dynamic “living skin” of Earth.

“The Critical Zone extends from the tops of trees down through the soil to depths up to 700 feet,” Tiedje said. “This zone supports most life on the planet as it regulates essential processes like , water cycling and , which are vital for food production, and ecosystem health. Despite its importance, the deep Critical Zone is a new frontier because it’s a major part of Earth that is relatively unexplored.”

A Galaxy Died Just 700 Million Years After the Big Bang — And Science Can’t Explain Why

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered the most distant quiescent galaxy ever seen – one that had already stopped forming stars just 700 million years after the Big Bang. This challenges existing models of galaxy evolution, which can’t explain how such massive, red and

Earth’s First Crust Was Continental — Long Before Plate Tectonics Began

New research suggests that Earth’s first crust, formed over 4.5 billion years ago, already carried the chemical traits we associate with modern continents. This means the telltale fingerprints of continental crust didn’t need plate tectonics to form, turning a long-standing theory on its head.

Using simulations of early Earth conditions, scientists found that the intense heat and molten environment of the planet’s infancy created these signatures naturally. The finding shakes up how we understand Earth’s evolution and could even influence how we think about crust formation on other planets.

A surprising shift in earth’s history.

Unique bacteria that survive by employing multicellular behavior offer clues to life’s evolution

In a recent study, researchers gained new insight into the lives of bacteria that survive by grouping together as if they were a multicellular organism. The organisms in the study are the only bacteria known to do this in this way, and studying them could help astrobiologists explain important steps in the evolution of life on Earth.

The work is published in the journal PLOS Biology.

The organisms in the study are known as multicellular magnetotactic bacteria (MMB). Being magnetotactic means that MMB are part of a select group of bacteria that orient their movement based on Earth’s magnetic field using tiny “compass needles” in their cells. As if that weren’t special enough, MMB also live bunched up in collections of cells that are considered by some scientists to exhibit “obligate” multicellularity, the trait on which the new study is focused.

The Stars That Froze Mid-Song: How Starquakes Reveal a Hidden Stage in Galactic Evolution

Some stars in our galaxy pulse like musical instruments, and scientists have found a way to listen in. These rhythmic starquakes, like vibrations in a string or drum, reveal vital clues about a star’s age, composition, and life cycle.

By studying these “melodies” in a star cluster called M67—whose stars are like solar siblings—researchers uncovered a strange pause in stellar evolution called the “plateau.” This discovery helps pinpoint stellar ages with remarkable precision, bringing us closer to understanding how stars, and ultimately our galaxy, have evolved.

Celestial Music: Listening to Starquakes.

Tiny Fossils Reveal Mammals Left the Trees Long Before the Asteroid Impact

Millions of years before the asteroid impact that ended the reign of the dinosaurs, mammals were already beginning to shift from tree-dwelling to ground-based lifestyles.

A groundbreaking study uncovered this evolutionary trend by analyzing tiny limb bone fragments from marsupials and placental mammals in Western North America. These subtle fossil clues reveal that mammals may have been responding to a changing world, especially the spread of flowering plants that transformed habitats on the ground. Surprisingly, this terrestrial transition appears to have played a bigger role in mammalian evolution than direct interactions with dinosaurs.

Early Ground-Dwellers Before Dinosaurs’ Demise.