Soils that formed on the Earth's surface thousands of years ago and that are now deeply buried features of vanished landscapes have been found to be rich in carbon, adding a new dimension to our planet's carbon cycle.
Earth Sciences
May 25, 2014
21
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Powerful, destructive tropical cyclones are now reaching their peak intensity farther from the equator and closer to the poles, according to a new study co-authored by an MIT scientist.
Earth Sciences
May 14, 2014
14
0
When chemist Tehshik Yoon looks out his office window, he sees a source of energy to drive chemical reactions. Plants "learned" to synthesize chemicals with sunlight eons ago; Yoon came to the field a bit more recently.
Materials Science
Apr 24, 2014
1
0
(Phys.org) —It's a scientific axiom: big claims require extra-solid evidence. So there were skeptics in 2001 when University of Wisconsin-Madison geoscience professor John Valley dated an ancient crystal found in Australia ...
General Physics
Apr 21, 2014
1
0
With the help of a tiny fragment of zircon extracted from a remote rock outcrop in Australia, the picture of how our planet became habitable to life about 4.4 billion years ago is coming into sharper focus.
Earth Sciences
Feb 23, 2014
14
1
Generating electricity is not the only way to turn sunlight into energy we can use on demand. The sun can also drive reactions to create chemical fuels, such as hydrogen, that can in turn power cars, trucks and trains.
Materials Science
Feb 21, 2014
2
0
For plants, the only way to grow is for cells to expand. Unlike animals, cell division in plants happens only within a tiny region of the root and stem apex, making cell expansion the critical path to increased stature.
Biotechnology
Jan 23, 2014
0
0
Using a plant-derived chemical, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have developed a process for creating a concentrated stream of sugars that's ripe with possibility for biofuels.
Biotechnology
Jan 16, 2014
2
0
(Phys.org) —In a 3-meter diameter hollow aluminum sphere, Cary Forest, a UW-Madison physics professor, is stirring and heating plasmas to 500,000 degrees Fahrenheit to experimentally mimic the magnetic field-inducing cosmic ...
Space Exploration
Oct 17, 2013
0
0
(Phys.org) —For astrophysicists, the interplay of hydrogen—the most common molecule in the universe—and the vast clouds of dust that fill the voids of interstellar space has been an intractable puzzle of stellar evolution.
Astronomy
Sep 26, 2013
28
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