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Tag Archives: carbon

Old, cold moss grows again

By Stephen Ornes / June 6, 2013

Mighty_Moss

Scientists prod new growth from a plant buried for centuries

Posted in Plants | Tagged Arctic Circle, biology, C14, Canada, carbon, carbon-14, Catherine La Farge, elements, Ellesmere Island, getinvolved, glacier, Little Ice Age, moss, nitrogen, radioactivity, radiocarbon dating, topstories, University of Alberta

Fungi as carbon keepers

By Stephen Ornes / April 11, 2013

A recent study of forested Swedish islands found that tiny fungi in the soil store most of the carbon found in the forest floor. Credit: Photo courtesy of Karina Clemmensen

A common type of fungus stores most of a forest floor’s carbon underground

Posted in Environment & Pollution, Microbes, Fungi & Algae | Tagged carbon, carbon dioxide, ecology, Erik Hobbie, fungus, getinvolved, global warming, greenhouse gas, Karina Clemmensen, roots, soil, Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, trees, University of New Hampshire, Uppsala

Ice on Mercury

By Stephen Ornes / December 17, 2012

This image of Mercury’s north pole region shows areas in shadow (red) according to new MESSENGER data and the location of bright spots (yellow) that are likely exposed ice deposits.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Arecibo Observatory

MESSENGER spacecraft provides evidence for frozen water on planet closest to sun

Posted in Space | Tagged aliens, altimetry, asteroids, astronomy, carbon, comets, craters, David Paige, extraterrestrial life, getinvolved, ice, laser altimeter, mercury, MESSENGER, NASA, planetary science, planets, space environment, sun, University of California Los Angeles

Cool Jobs: Explosive pursuits

By Sharon Oosthoek / November 14, 2012

Mining engineer Bibhu Mohanty sets off controlled explosions as part of his job designing blasts that break apart rock. Credit: Bibhu Mohanty

These researchers study things that go boom — or poof!

Posted in STEM Careers, Technology & Engineering | Tagged airport security, Bibhu Mohanty, blast, bomb, bomb sniffer, bunchberry dogwood, carbon, catapult, chemical reaction, cool jobs, explosions, explosive, feature, geology, gold, Guinness Book of World Records, high speed photography, iron, Joan Edwards, land mine, minerals, mining, molecular sieve, nickel, oxidizer, pollen, reaction, rocks, TNT, topstories, University of Delaware, University of Toronto, Williams College, Yushan Yan, zeolite

Harder than diamonds?

By Sid Perkins / October 22, 2012

This image depicts the mixture of fullerenes (pink, soccer ball–shaped molecules) and xylene (blue molecules) before it is compressed to form a material that’s hard enough to dent a diamond. Credit: Carnegie Institution of Washington

Researchers create new material that may be world’s hardest

Posted in Chemistry | Tagged Bertil Sundqvist, buckyball, carbon, chemical bonds, chemical structure, diamond, diamond anvil cell, fullerene, getinvolved, high pressure, Lin Wang, molecules, soccer ball, super tough, topstories, xylene

Getting the dirt on carbon

By Susan Gaidos / March 3, 2009

The circle of life continues thanks to the carbon cycle

Posted in Environment & Pollution | Tagged carbon, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, Decomposers, ecology, photosynthesis

Graphene’s superstrength

By Stephen Ornes / December 17, 2008

Scientists believe that graphene may change the world of electronics

Posted in Technology & Engineering | Tagged Atomic structure, atoms and molecules, carbon