Research indicates that wildfires could be bolstering soil emissions of air pollutants that contribute to smog and climate change.
bacteria & microbes
A New Technique Could Identify Algae from Space
Some types of algal blooms produce dangerous toxins, while others are relatively harmless to humans.
Cyanobacteria Blooms Exceed WHO Thresholds in Midwest Lakes
A study of 369 lakes across the Midwest finds that many of them, especially those close to agriculture, have high concentrations of harmful algal bloom-causing cyanobacteria.
Shedding Light on Microbial Communities in Deep Aquifers
Researchers use a packer system to study the microbial communities living in waters sampled from deep, uncontaminated peridotite aquifers.
Purple Bacteria Fix Nitrogen in Proterozoic-Analogue Lake
A new study challenges the assumption that cyanobacteria were the only major nitrogen fixers in the Proterozoic eon.
Small Climate Changes Could Be Magnified by Natural Processes
A new study uses modeling techniques to uncover how small incidents of warming may be turned into hyperthermal events lasting thousands of years.
Satellites Allow Scientists to Dive into Milky Seas
Satellites may finally be able to report the fleeting phenomena of milky seas in near-real time, allowing researchers to potentially study an ocean mystery that has survived more than 2 centuries.
Longer Days Likely Boosted Earth’s Early Oxygen
Microbial mats in a Lake Huron sinkhole, combined with modeling work, suggest that the changing length of Earth’s day could have played a key role in oxygenating the atmosphere.
Desert Life Conjures Organic Carbon from Thin Air
Without water, photosynthesis shuts down. To survive dry spells, desert microbes scavenge traces of hydrogen from the air and burn it for energy. Some even use hydrogen to fuel carbon fixation.
Esta búsqueda por vida alienígena comienza con la destrucción de bacterias en la Tierra
Algún día, un catálogo de fragmentos moleculares podría ayudar a científicos a identificar vida extraterrestre en las lunas heladas de nuestro sistema solar.
