radiometric-dating

Radiometric dating compares a radioactive parent isotope with its stable daughter, using fixed half-lives to date rocks, fossils, and Earth itself.

Earth's age is not guessed from one rock. This guide explains radiometric dating, meteorites, zircon crystals, half-lives, and why 4.54 billion years is robust.

A dinosaur bone does not simply survive for 66 million years — it is chemically replaced, molecule by molecule, until what you hold is stone wearing the shape of life. The odds against any given animal leaving a fossil are staggering, which is why every specimen in a museum is a triumph of improbable geology.