How and why humans exist are questions that have challenged different cultures ever since the dawn of civilization. Many scientists have taken upon their shoulders the duty of answering these fundamental questions, coming up with several especially creative ideas over the past few decades. One prominent idea is that…
Using an environment on Earth that simulates early Mars conditions, researchers found an abundance of bacteria that get their energy from sulfur-containing molecules, suggesting a new focus in the search for biosignatures on the Red Planet.
Two new species of cave dwelling cockroaches have been discovered from a cave in Myanmar. They have been dated to be 99 million years old making them the oldest cave animals known to date.
The Mars 2020 mission involves sending a rover, named Perseverance, to Mars to look for evidence of past life on that planet. Perseverance will collect samples of 3 billion year old rocks that scientists on Earth think might contain signs of ancient life on Mars. Later, NASA will launch a mission to retrieve those…
Researchers found that minerals from rocks deposited in karst aquifers during storms comes in two waves.
Microbes on Earth have adapted to survive in some pretty extreme locations. The extreme dryness of deserts, high salinity in salt deposits, cold temperatures of glaciers, and even high pressures of the deep ocean don’t stop some life forms. Another extreme environment is created by a rock known as serpentinite. This…
Researchers found a hidden selenium cycle tied to manganese oxide minerals made by common soil fungi.
In a paper published in Nature last month, researchers found that there is a greater risk of landslides after earthquakes, especially following rainstorms.
Have you ever driven past an old factory building and wondered what ever happened to the harsh chemicals that were used there? If you guessed that a lot of the chemicals ended up in the environment, you would be right. Many of these pollutants are what we refer to as “halogenated hydrocarbons”. These are molecules…
Cement is one of those common building materials that you can find just about anywhere. When the cement starts to get cracked, fixing it is generally an easy task that involves widening the crack slightly before filling it with more cement. Now, imagine having to fix cracking cement that is buried 1 kilometer (3281…
