This model reveals how vastly different the atmosphere was on ancient Earth, and how life may have first emerged.

A new study in Nature finds that up to 215 million hectares of land (an area larger than Mexico) in humid tropical regions around the world has the potential to naturally regrow. That much forest could store 23.4 gigatons of carbon over 30 years and also have a significant impact on concerns like biodiversity loss and water quality. The study showed that more than half of the area with strong potential for regrowth was in five countries: Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, China, and Colombia. A new global map the authors produced of potential regrowth areas is a boon to environmentalists worldwide hoping to advocate locally for their efforts.

A new 450-million-year-old fossil arthropod, preserved in 3D by iron pyrite (fool’s gold), has been unveiled by scientists.

The new species, Lomankus edgecombei, is distantly related to spiders, scorpions, and horseshoe crabs.

The findings have been published today (29 Oct) in the journal Current Biology.

In the largest predation event ever recorded, researchers observed capelin shoaling off the coast of Norway, where a swarm of cod overtook them, consuming over 10 million fish in a few hours. The team hopes to deploy their technique to monitor the large-scale dynamics among other species of fish and track vulnerable keystone species.

Over the span of two projects, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign investigated using a propulsion concept known as multimode propulsion to get spacecraft to the Moon and developed a technique to design optimal multimode transfers. NASA provided the team with four real mission scenarios. The goal was to explore how a multimode propulsion system that integrates both a chemical high-thrust mode and an electric low-thrust mode—while using the same propellant—can succeed. They used a standard 12-unit CubeSat to accomplish four distinct missions.