New Atlas

Science Audio available

Are we living in the age of the chicken?

David Szondy December 12, 2018

Move over humans, there's a new dominant species on Earth – the chicken. According to researchers from the UK and South Africa, the most prominent marker of our age will not be our great monuments or industrial pollution, but the fossilized bones of hundreds of billions of domestic chickens.

A new study suggests the chicken is the most obvious evidence of the Anthropocene

Environment Audio available

10-year study documents massive, mysterious ecosystem deep beneath our feet

Michael Irving December 10, 2018

A study has taken a census of life in the “deep biosphere” beneath the Earth's surface. Among the finds are bizarre creatures that can survive at record depths, pressures and temperatures, and even “zombie” bacteria that may live (in a loose sense of the word) for millions of years at a time.

Researchers have cataloged the extensive biosphere of life deep beneath the surface of the Earth

Environment Audio available

Earth is "drinking" more seawater through the Mariana Trench than previously thought

Michael Irving November 14, 2018

A new study suggests that the mantle is home to much more water than was previously believed. Seismic activity around the Mariana Trench have revealed that subducting tectonic plates are dragging more water deeper into the Earth, which could change our understanding of the global water cycle.

Seismic activity at the Mariana plate is dragging far more water into the Earth's mantle than ...

Science Audio available

New study finds oldest evidence of life may just be boring old rocks after all

Michael Irving October 17, 2018

A few years ago, researchers studying stromatolites in Greenland dated them to 3.7 billion years old, making them the oldest evidence of life on Earth. However, a new study has now taken another look at the rocks and found that they probably weren’t biological in origin.

An earlier study found the conical structures (highlighted) appeared to be biological in origin, but a ...

Science Audio available

Drone-dropped "dragon eggs" made to monitor volcanoes

Ben Coxworth September 10, 2018

Would you want to climb up an active volcano to deposit a sensor at its crater? Probably not, and it's something that safety-conscious volcanologists would prefer not to do, too. With that in mind, British scientists have created drone-deployed sensing devices known as "dragon eggs."

A drone and a couple of the dragon eggs (with green release cords), atop Mount Stromboli

Environment

Time for the Meghalayan: A new geological age has officially been declared

Michael Irving July 19, 2018

The International Chronostratigraphic Chart has officially been revised. That means our current point in Earth’s geological timeline has been updated so that we’re now living in the Meghalayan age, which began 4,200 years ago with a two-century drought that destroyed several civilizations.

Welcome to the Meghalayan age, a newly-confirmed geological age that began 4,200 years ago

Science

Quadrillion tons of diamond discovered deep within the Earth

Michael Irving July 16, 2018

The next blow to Big Diamond might have just arrived. Using sound waves, geologists have discovered a gigantic stash of the so-called precious stones deep in the Earth's interior, possibly to the tune of a quadrillion tons.

new study suggests there may be 1,000 times more diamonds in the Earth's interior than previously ...

Environment

Fast-rising bedrock makes for surprisingly uplifting Antarctic news

Michael Irving June 24, 2018

News from Antarctica usually paints a grim picture, but now, a new study reports some more uplifting findings: the Earth itself is rising at one of the fastest rates ever seen, and it may help stabilize the ice sheet.

The bedrock below Antarctica is rising surprisingly fast – and that could be enough to stabilize ...

Space

Mysterious Martian formation may be the Solar System's largest volcanic deposit

Michael Irving June 20, 2018

The Medusae Fossae Formation is a huge rocky structure on Mars that has had scientists puzzling over its origins for decades, but the new work suggests it’s the result of massive volcanic eruptions that would have changed the climate of the Red Planet.

Part of the Medusae Fossae Formation on Mars, which new research suggests is the largest explosive ...

Environment

Rock-solid evidence shows how Earth's eccentric orbit affects climate change

Michael Irving May 9, 2018

Models have long suggested that Earth's orbit shifts from circular to elliptical and back again over hundreds of thousands of years, which plays a part in natural climate swings. Now, scientists have found the first physical evidence for the cycle, and traced it back to before the dinosaurs.

Researchers have found rock-solid evidence for a 405,000 year cycle in Earth's orbit, which affects climate ...