Microbial life already had the necessary conditions to exist on our planet 3.5 billion years ago. This was the conclusion reached by a research team after studying microscopic fluid inclusions in barium sulfate (barite) from ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 31, 2021
0
54
Photosynthesis, the process by which plants and other organisms convert sunlight into chemical energy, has been a major player during the evolution of life and our planet's atmosphere. Although most of the ins and outs of ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 12, 2021
0
1633
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft mission, launched on Sept. 8, 2016, is the first U.S. mission designed to retrieve a pristine sample of an asteroid and return it to Earth for further study. The mission's target is Bennu, a carbon-rich ...
Space Exploration
Oct 8, 2020
3
239
A new way to treat acid mine drainage (AMD) could help transform the environmental pollution problem into an important domestic source of the critical rare earth elements needed to produce technology ranging from smart phones ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 5, 2020
3
2990
A research team including research scientist Atsuko Kobayashi from the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, and research scientist Mizuho Koike from the Institute of Space and Astronautical ...
Space Exploration
Apr 29, 2020
1
361
Clay minerals suspended in seawater binds sedimentary organic carbon to their mineral surfaces. But the quantity of carbon that is bound and the source of that carbon very much depends on the clay mineral in question. A research ...
Environment
Oct 14, 2019
0
55
Understanding the global carbon cycle provides scientists with vital clues about the planet's habitability.
Earth Sciences
Feb 22, 2019
0
88
One answer to our greenhouse gas challenges may be right under our feet: Soil scientists Oliver Chadwick of UC Santa Barbara and Marc Kramer of Washington State University have found that minerals in soil can hold on to a ...
Environment
Jan 2, 2019
0
273
A Washington State University researcher has found that one-fourth of the carbon held by soil is bound to minerals as far as six feet below the surface. The discovery opens a new possibility for dealing with the element as ...
Environment
Nov 26, 2018
2
66
The amount of carbon dioxide released from thawing permafrost might be greater than previously thought because of a process called mineral weathering, according to a new study by University of Alberta ecologists.
Environment
Sep 19, 2018
1
830
