Tree Rings Help Circle in on Dating Pre-History Events Solar flares create spikes in the Carbon-14 of woody plants that can provide anchor years for more accurate dating of artifacts.

One light ring plus one dark ring signifies one year of a tree’s life. Embedded in these rings is information about the climate in which the tree has grown, each circle a snapshot of the past.

The family tree of living and extinct organisms encompasses 50,000 species–only a fraction of the world’s history of life–and would easily take up hundreds of pages if laid out linearly.

Teeth act as a 'faithful archive of life' by forming layers like tree rings that reveal intimate details of a person's life such as when they got pregnant, fell ill or were in prison ...