{"id":18172,"date":"2014-07-14T09:31:32","date_gmt":"2014-07-14T09:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/research\/were-fluctuating-oxygen-levels-responsible-for-the-boring-billion\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T16:15:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T10:45:03","slug":"were-fluctuating-oxygen-levels-responsible-for-the-boring-billion","status":"publish","type":"research","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/were-fluctuating-oxygen-levels-responsible-for-the-boring-billion","title":{"rendered":"Were fluctuating oxygen levels responsible for the “boring billion?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Life on Earth began 260 million years after the planet\u2019s early atmosphere witnessed two major spikes in oxygen concentration \u2014 the first one is called the \u2018great oxygenation event,\u2019 which occurred one roughly 2.3 billion years ago, and a second occurred 800 million years ago. Researchers say that fluctuations in oxygen levels, falling to from 0.1% to rising as high as 40% of the present atmospheric levels is the probable cause for the evolutionary silence dubbed the \u201cboring billion.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Read more in Nature<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

doi:10.1038\/nature.2014.15529<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":33313,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"new_tags":[],"series":[],"subject":[2872],"class_list":["post-18172","research","type-research","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","subject-earth-and-planetary-science"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWere fluctuating oxygen levels responsible for the "boring billion?" | Editage Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Life on Earth began 260 million years after the planet\u2019s early atmosphere witnessed two major spikes in oxygen concentration. 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