Before Earth, there was “proto Earth,” a primitive hunk of rock that formed four and a half billion years ago. It was drastically different to the Earth we know today, heaving with lava and rock all across its barren surface, and bubbling with potential.

This molten phase didn’t last very long. When it was less than 100 million years old, what scientists believe was a Mars-sized object slammed into proto-Earth and violently put an end to whatever it was growing into. The collision was so catastrophic that, in addition to blasting out debris that would later become our Moon, it permanently altered the planet’s composition. All traces of proto-Earth were thought to be lost or erased.

Until now, that is. In a new study published in the journal Nature Geosciences, a team of MIT researchers p

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