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Mystery of 'living fossil' tree frozen in time for 66 million years finally solved
By Richard Pallardy published
The Wollemi pine was thought to have gone extinct 2 million years ago until it was rediscovered by a group of hikers in 1994. Now, scientists have decoded its genome to understand how it's survived — almost unchanged — since the time of the dinosaurs.

World's 1st mountaintop impact crater discovered in northeastern China
By Stephanie Pappas published
A two-peaked mountain in northeastern China is the site of the world's first confirmed mountaintop crater.

Team Egg or Team Sponge? Scientists divided over identity of mysterious golden orb from bottom of ocean
By Hannah Osborne published
The weird gold dome-shaped object was found during an NOAA expedition to the Gulf of Mexico and is now being preserved in ethanol until it can be sent for laboratory analysis.

'Once again, innovation and proliferation ended with catastrophe': The environmental disaster of plants taking over the world
By Stephen Porder published
The evolutionary leap that allowed plants to live on land 400 million years ago upended Earth in a way unseen since the Great Oxidation Event over 1.5 billion years earlier.

Mysterious bamboo regeneration baffles scientists ahead of once-in-a-century blooming event
By Jacklin Kwan published
Henon bamboo flowers only once every 120 years then vanishes for years, and researchers have no idea how it regenerates.

Here's why Morocco's quake was so deadly — and what we can do for the next one
By José A. Peláez Montilla published
More than 2,500 people died when a powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Morocco on Sept. 8.

Why does Earth have magnetic poles?
By Joanna Thompson published
Earth is the only rocky body in the inner solar system with strong magnetic poles. But where do these poles come from, and what do they do?

Anatolian fault that gave rise to deadly Turkey and Syria quakes formed 5 million years ago
By Stephanie Pappas published
A new study traces the birth of a tectonic plate.

'It is biological in origin': 1st analysis of weird golden orb from ocean floor leaves scientists stumped
By Hannah Osborne published
The golden, dome-shaped object was discovered in the Gulf of Alaska during an NOAA expedition and after bringing it to the surface, scientists still have no idea what it is.
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