Earth History

Researchers in South Korea have found stromatolites inside the Hapcheon impact crater, suggesting asteroid strikes created conditions that supported early oxygen-producing life.

February 18, 2026 由 AI 报道

Researchers at MIT have found evidence that some early life forms began using oxygen hundreds of millions of years before it accumulated in Earth's atmosphere. The study traces a key oxygen-processing enzyme to the Mesoarchean era, suggesting microbes consumed oxygen produced by cyanobacteria. This discovery challenges previous understandings of aerobic respiration's timeline.