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Published — 15 August 2026 Sabine Hossenfelder

Scientists Solve Mystery of Earth’s Continents

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How special is Earth? It's one of those questions that runs through all of science, and here's a version of it most people have never thought about: why does our planet even have continents? A group of geologists now says the answer lies somewhere unexpected, in the shape of the Milky Way itself. Let's take a look.

#science #physics #sciencenews #astronomy #milkyway #earth

Paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2026.120201

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