Is Earth Alive?

Researchers at the University of Maryland have discovered a way to identify and track sulfuric compounds in Earth's marine environment, opening a path to either refute or support a decades-old hypothesis that our planet can be compared to a singular, self-regulating, living organism - a.k.a. the Gaia theory.

Proposed by scientists James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 70s, the Gaia theory likens Earth to a self-supporting singular life form, similar to a cell. The theory claims that, rather than being merely a stage upon which life exists, life - in all forms - works to actively construct an Earthly environment in which it can thrive.