Soil production breaks geologic speed record

Geologic time is shorthand for slow-paced. But new measurements from steep mountaintops in New Zealand show that rock can transform into soil more than twice as fast as previously believed possible.

Missing piece inspires new look at Mars puzzle

(PhysOrg.com) -- Experiments prompted by a 2008 surprise from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suggest that soil examined by NASA's Viking Mars landers in 1976 may have contained carbon-based chemical building blocks of life.

Life on Mars theory boosted by new methane study

Scientists have ruled out the possibility that methane is delivered to Mars by meteorites, raising fresh hopes that the gas might be generated by life on the red planet, in research published tomorrow in Earth and Planetary ...

Researchers discover corn reduces arsenic toxicity in soil

When crops grow in arsenic-contaminated soil, this toxic element accumulates in the food chain. A study involving the University of Basel has now discovered a mechanism used by corn plants to reduce arsenic uptake: the key ...

How microbes die influences soil carbon content, study finds

Even microorganisms do not live forever. However, the manner in which these tiny soil organisms die has an effect on the amount of carbon they leave behind. These are the latest results of a study carried out by microbiologist ...

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