The greenhouse gas that saved the world

When Planet Earth was just cooling down from its fiery creation, the sun was faint and young. So faint that it should not have been able to keep the oceans of earth from freezing. But fortunately for the creation of life, ...

In the Greek isles, a volcano has awakened

In 1650 B.C.E., a series of massive volcanic eruptions decimated the ancient seafaring Minoan civilization. Over the next 4 millennia, the largely subaquatic Santorini caldera had a series of smaller eruptions, with five ...

Ocean floor sediments explain arid U.S. Southwest

(Phys.org)—Surface-dwelling algae adjust their biochemistry to surface temperatures. As they die and sink to the bottom, they build a sedimentary record of sea-surface temperature across millennia. Brown's work on surface ...

Curiosity's sundial carries a message of hope

While Curiosity is definitely loaded up with some of the most high-tech instruments ever made to investigate the surface of Mars, it also carries a very low-tech instrument: a sundial, which can be used to determine the position ...

Video: Genetically improving sorghum for biofuels

Bioscientist Anne Villacastin is using genetics to supercharge the growing power of sorghum, a cereal plant that humans have been cultivating for millennia. By adding genes from wheat, Villacastin and her colleagues at the ...

Australian lake untouched by climate change

Researchers at the University of Adelaide have found that a lake on an island off the coast of Queensland has been relatively untouched by changes in climate for the past 7000 years, and has so far also resisted the impact ...

Shale could be long-term home for problematic nuclear waste

Shale, the source of the United States' current natural gas boom, could help solve another energy problem: what to do with radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. The unique properties of the sedimentary rock and related ...

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