Research by a Danish physicist suggests that the explosion of massive stars - supernovae - near the Solar System has strongly influenced the development of life. Prof. Henrik Svensmark of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) sets out his novel work in a paper in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

New research reveals that the Archean era - a formative time for early life from 3,8 billion to 2,5 billion years ago - experienced far more major asteroid impacts than had been previously thought, with a few impacts perhaps even rivaling those that produced the largest craters on the Moon

In celebration of this year's Earth Day on April 22, NASA's Webby Award-winning Global Climate Change website, climate.nasa.gov , has unveiled a new version of its popular image gallery, "State of Flux."

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the highest temperature ever measured on Earth came on September 13, 1922, when the thermometer at a weather station in El Azizia, Libya, reached 58.0°C. That measurement shifted the title for “the world’s hottest place” away from Death Valley, California, which set the previous record  in July 1913.