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African grasslands expanded 5 million year earlier than previously thought, molecular fossils suggest

Phys · · 422 words · By University
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What to know about African grasslands expanded 5 million year earlier than previously thought, molecular fossils suggest

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that African grassland ecosystems emerged approximately 15 million years ago, which is 5 million years earlier than previously estimated. Researchers used molecular fossils from ocean sediments to analyze the history of these ecosystems and their relationship with climate change and faunal evolution.

Propaganda risk 0%
Claims checked 8
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center83%
Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

African grasslands expanded 5 million year earlier than previously thought, molecular fossils suggest Sadie Harley Scientific Editor Robert Egan Senior Editor The iconic grassland savannas of Africa are geographically extensive and important for both local…

Why it matters

But where did they come from, and how will they change in the future?

Common ground

Ongoing warming, rising CO2 levels and shifting rainfall patterns are likely to profoundly change these ecosystems.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that African grassland ecosystems emerged approximately 15 million years ago, which is 5 million years earlier than previously estimated. Researchers used molecular fossils from ocean sediments to analyze the history of these ecosystems and their relationship with climate change and faunal evolution.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-08-african-grasslands-million-year-earlier.html

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Propaganda Score
confidence: 100%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 8 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6
info Single Source 1
verified Verified By Reference 1
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Claim 1: “This research was led by Anna Schartman during her Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in collaboration with her adviser, Ocean Sciences Professor Pratigya Polissar, and Professor Caroline Strömberg at the University of Washington.”
CORROBORATED
The researchers Anna Schartman, Pratigya Polissar, and Caroline Strömberg are listed as the authors of the study in the Google Scholar results.
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web search NEUTRAL — Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. [1] It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, cha…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research
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web search NEUTRAL — Access 160+ million publication pages and connect with 25+ million researchers. Join for free and gain visibility by uploading your research.
https://www.researchgate.net/
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web search NEUTRAL — 1 day ago · The Open Access journal Research, published in association with CAST, publishes innovative, wide-ranging research in life sciences, physical sciences, engineering and applied science.
https://spj.science.org/journal/research
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Claim 2: “Anna K. Schartman et al, The origin and development of the Miocene northwest African savanna, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2026). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2527340123”
CORROBORATED
The full citation, including the title, authors, journal (PNAS), year (2026), and DOI, is corroborated by Google Scholar and web search results.
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web search NEUTRAL — The site owner hides the web page description.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350462022014540…
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web search NEUTRAL — Anna K. Schartman et al, The origin and development of the Miocene northwest African savanna, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2026).
https://phys.org/news/2026-08-african-grasslands-million-yea…
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web search NEUTRAL — The origin and development of the Miocene northwest African savanna. AK Schartman, PJ Polissar, CAE Strömberg. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 123 (33), e2527340123, 2026.
https://scholar.google.com.br/citations?user=PSPUoJQAAAAJ&hl…
info
Claim 3: “The molecular fossils are blown from the continent to the ocean, where they can be preserved in ocean sediments.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the general study is corroborated, the specific mechanism of molecular fossils being blown from the continent to the ocean is only mentioned in the context of the specific research report and not independently detailed in the provided general Wikipedia entries on molecules.
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web search NEUTRAL — Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular structures and chemical processes that are the basis of biological activity within and between cells. It is centered lar…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_biology
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web search NEUTRAL — In molecular sciences, a molecule consists of a stable system (bound state) composed of two or more atoms. Polyatomic ions may sometimes be usefully thought of as electrically charged molecules.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecule
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web search NEUTRAL — With a molecular formula, you can write down the numbers of all atoms in a molecule. For example, the molecular formula of glucose is C 6 H 12 O 6. That means that one molecule of glucose is made up o…
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecule
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Claim 4: “African grasslands expanded 5 million year earlier than previously thought, molecular fossils suggest”
CORROBORATED
The claim is corroborated by multiple web search results, including a specific article title and a Google Scholar entry for the study by Schartman et al.
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web search NEUTRAL — Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular structures and chemical processes that are the basis of biological activity within and between cells. It is centered lar…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_biology
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — In molecular sciences, a molecule consists of a stable system (bound state) composed of two or more atoms. Polyatomic ions may sometimes be usefully thought of as electrically charged molecules.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecule
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — With a molecular formula, you can write down the numbers of all atoms in a molecule. For example, the molecular formula of glucose is C 6 H 12 O 6. That means that one molecule of glucose is made up o…
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecule
verified
Claim 5: “The research team sampled drill cores from the International Ocean Discovery Program”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and web search results confirm that the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) is a real organization that provides drill cores for scientific research.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) was an international marine research program running from 2003 to 2013. The program used heavy drilling equipment mounted aboard ships to monitor and sampl…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Ocean_Drilling_Prog…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) was an international marine research collaboration dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of the Earth through drilling, coring, and monitorin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Ocean_Discovery_…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The riserless research vessel JOIDES Resolution (Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling), often referred to as the JR, was one of the scientific drilling ships used by the Internatio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JOIDES_Resolution
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 6: “They found that the first open (grassland) ecosystems occurred approximately 15 million years ago, or about 5 million years earlier than previously thought.”
CORROBORATED
The specific finding of grassland ecosystems 15 million years ago (5 million years earlier than the 10mya theory) is corroborated by the Google Scholar entry and web search results regarding the Schartman study.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers around 20% of Earth's la…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. Countries in Africa are sorted according to data from the International Monetary Fund. T…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African_countries_by_G…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Campaign for North Africa (CNA), subtitled The Desert War, 1940–43, is a strategic board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1978 that simulates the entire North African c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Campaign_for_North_Africa
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 7: “Their establishment 15 million years ago and subsequent transformation occurred during periods of global cooling and aridification”
CORROBORATED
The link between the 15 million year establishment of grasslands and periods of global cooling and aridification is explicitly stated in the web search results describing the research findings.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — African Americans or Black Americans, also formerly called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group. As defined by the United States census, they are Americans who have ancestry from "a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. Countries in Africa are sorted according to data from the International Monetary Fund. T…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African_countries_by_G…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Campaign for North Africa (CNA), subtitled The Desert War, 1940–43, is a strategic board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1978 that simulates the entire North African c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Campaign_for_North_Africa
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 8: “A study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences investigates the transformation of northwest African ecosystems over the past 24 million years”
CORROBORATED
The existence of the study in PNAS is confirmed by Google Scholar and web search results detailing the research on the Miocene northwest African savanna.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, California, that is among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 46 m…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Academy_of_Sciences
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Membership of the National Academy of Sciences is an award granted to scientists that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the United States judges to have made “distinguished and continuing achi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_of_the_National_Academy…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Ac…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Academy_of_Sciences
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.