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Billions of years ago... our planet’s primordial atmosphere was toxic to life as we know it, consisting of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and other gases. However, by the Paleoproterozoic Era (2.5–1.6 billion years ago), a dramatic change occurred where oxygen began to be introduced to the atmosphere – known as the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). [S]cientists were not sure if this event – which was the result of photosynthetic bacteria altering the atmosphere – occurred rapidly or not. ... Based on newly-discovered geological evidence, the team concluded that the introduction of oxygen to our atmosphere was “more like a fire hose”...

A vision system that helps soldiers plan a route through the chaos of the battlefield will undergo tests on both sides of the Atlantic. The system, called Primordial Soldier, will provide soldiers with a real-time picture of where troops are in relation to each other and a digital rendering of the route they should follow. It is about to undergo trials with US special forces and has been bought by the UK arm of MBDA Missiles. MBDA plans to carry out conceptual research on the system to learn how using such technology affects a soldier's decision-making capability in the field....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A sample of comet dust, collected by a robotic space probe with what looks a bit like a big tennis racket, is scheduled to parachute down to Earth next month, NASA scientists said on Wednesday. The spaceship Stardust is coming to the end of its seven-year, 2.9 billion mile round-trip mission to fly by comet Wild 2, catching dust that could give astronomers clues about how the planets formed some 4.5 billion years ago. The ship will remain in space but a 101-pound (46 kilogram) capsule loaded with dust culled from the comet is expected to land...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 June 10 Zooming in on the First Stars Credit & Copyright: Visualization: Ralf Kaehler (ZIB) & Tom Abel (Penn. State) Simulation: Tom Abel (Penn. State), Greg Bryan (Oxford) & Mike Norman (UCSD) Explanation: What became of the first stars? No known stars appear to be composed of truly primordial gas -- all of the stars around us have too many heavy elements. Our own Sun is thought...