* Astronomy

Early life on land may have thrived in 3.5 billion-year-old Pilbara hot spring

A team of researchers discovered evidence of fossil stromatolites - structures formed by layers of cyanobacteria - in what appears to be an ancient freshwater hot spring.
They said the discovery, reported today in the journal Nature Communications, supports the emerging theory life may have evolved in land-based hot springs rather than in deep sea hydrothermal vents, and provides a new target in the search for ancient life on Mars.
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Fossilised filaments from hot ocean vent claimed to be earliest evidence of life on Earth

Tiny mineralised filaments smaller than a human hair found in rocks more than 3.77 billion years old may be evidence of one of the oldest lifeforms on Earth.
An international team of scientists has discovered what they believe are the fossilised remains of microorganisms that would have clustered around a hot, seafloor vent.
They said the discovery, published today in Nature, complements other evidence of early life found last year in 3.71-billion-year-old fossil stromatolites in Greenland.
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World's oldest fossils unearthed

Remains of microorganisms at least 3,770 million years old have been discovered by an international team led by UCL scientists, providing direct evidence of one of the oldest life forms on Earth.
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400 million year old gigantic extinct monster worm discovered in Canadian museum

Researchers from the University of Bristol, Lund University in Sweden and the Royal Ontario Museum studied an ancient fossil, which has been stored at the museum since the mid-1990s, and discovered the remains of a giant extinct bristle worm (the marine relatives of earthworms and leeches).
Sample materials, from what proved to belong to the Devonian Kwataboahegan Formation, were brought back to the Royal Ontario Museum, where they have been stored until they caught the eyes of the authors'.
The species has been named Websteroprion armstrongi. This honours Armstrong, who collected the material, and bass player extraordinaire, Alex Webster of Death Metal band Cannibal Corpse, since he can be regarded as a 'giant' when it comes to handling his instrument.
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