Life thrived on Earth far earlier than previously believed, flourishing under the harsh reign of the Hadean eon. LUCA—the last universal common ancestor—was even designed to fend off ancient viruses.

Earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago, during the geological eon known as the Hadean. The name "Hadean" comes from the Greek god of the underworld, reflecting the extreme heat that likely ...

The Hadean is the earliest eon in Earth’s geologic history, spanning from the planet’s formation about 4.56 billion years ago to roughly 4.0 billion years ago. It is characterized by accretion from ...

New ANU research is set to radically overturn the conventional wisdom that early Earth was a hellish planet barren of continents. An international research team led by Professor Mark Harrison of the ...

Olivine cumulate from the Weltevreden Formation showing that although these cumulates are significantly altered, they still contain preserved unaltered olivine cores (microscopic image taken in ...

The solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago from a condensed nebula, and with it our planet Earth, which was a ball ...