Earth’s days were once 2 hours longer — and that may have triggered one of the biggest evolutionary explosions in history, study suggests

An illustration of the Earth with the moon in the foreground and the sun in the background.

Earth's days were once more than two hours longer than they are now, thanks to the moon drifting thousands of miles farther away in its orbit over two periods, researchers have discovered.

The extra hours of sunlight, in turn, may have led to oxygenation events that ushered in a period when life's complexity exploded, the study researchers say.