Maya Wei-Haas

Contributing Writer

An illustration of a ship drilling into the seafloor. The ship is atop 850 meters of water and has drilled more than 1200 meters into a cache of mantle rocks beneath the ocean floor.

earth science

Deep Beneath Earth’s Surface, Clues to Life’s Origins

January 4, 2024

Last spring, scientists retrieved a trove of mantle rocks from underneath the Atlantic seafloor — a bounty that could help write the first chapter of life's story on Earth.

About the author

Maya Wei-Haas is a freelance science writer and travel guide who specializes in the geology of Earth and beyond. After receiving her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, she became an AAAS Mass Media fellow at National Geographic. Maya later worked as an assistant editor at Smithsonian.com and then returned to National Geographic as a staff reporter. She is now writing for a variety of outlets, including the New York Times, News from Science, and Atlas Obscura. You can learn more about Maya on her website mayaweihaas.com.

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Maya Wei-Haas

Deep Beneath Earth’s Surface, Clues to Life’s Origins

Deep Beneath Earth’s Surface, Clues to Life’s Origins

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Maya Wei-Haas

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Deep Beneath Earth’s Surface, Clues to Life’s Origins