Oxygen-based life evolved on Earth because of geological events that occurred over 2.5 million years ago, according to Princeton University researchers who published a report this week in the online journal Nature.

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Research by NASA and international scientists concludes giant asteroids, similar or larger than the one believed to have killed the dinosaurs,

Carbon found within ancient rocks has played a crucial role developing a time line for the emergence of biological life on the planet billions of years ago.

Life on Earth began to flourish about 3 billion years ago, possibly when primitive forms developed efficient ways to harness energy from the Sun’s light.

The scalding-hot sea that supposedly covered the early Earth may in fact never have existed, according to a new study by Stanford University researchers who analyzed isotope ratios in 3.4 billion-year-old ocean floor rocks.