Many industries use heat-intensive processes that generally require the burning of fossil fuels, but a surprising green fuel alternative is emerging in the form of metal powders. Ground very fine, cheap iron powder burns readily at high temperatures, releasing energy as it oxidizes in a process that emits no carbon and produces easily collectable rust, or iron oxide, as its only…
Tag: fossil
Life-hunting Perseverance rover is halfway to Mars
NASA announced that its Perseverance rover mission – which will search for evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars – has now passed the halfway mark in its journey to the planet. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/perservance-rover-halfway-to-mars-nasa-astrobiology…
The Arctic hasn’t been this warm for 3 million years
The last time CO2 concentrations reached today’s level was 3 million years ago, during the Pliocene Epoch. Hear from geoscientists who see evolving conditions in the Arctic as an indicator of how climate change could transform the planet. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/arctic-warmest-3-million-years…
Dinosaur fossil with preserved genital orifice hints how they mated
The shape of the dinosaur’s cloaca, the orifice used for excretion and mating, resembles those of crocodiles, which suggests dinosaurs did have penises after all Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2258023-dinosaur-fossil-with-preserved-genital-orifice-hints-how-they-mated/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Ancient microbial life used arsenic to thrive in a world without oxygen
Today, most life on Earth is supported by oxygen. But ancient microbial mats existed for a billion years before oxygen was present in the atmosphere. So what did life use instead? Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/ancient-microbial-life-arsenic…
Renewable Player NextEra Overtakes ExxonMobil In Market Value
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechXplore: After decades of embracing fossil fuels, Wall Street appears to be shifting its allegiance to renewable energy, a sharp turn apparent in the contrasting fortunes of NextEra Energy and Exxon Mobil. Florida-based NextEra is the biggest producer of wind energy in North America and among the biggest solar producers in the United States….
Stan the T. rex just became the most expensive fossil ever sold
A Tyrannosaurus rex called Stan ended up on the auction block because of a lawsuit. Here’s how it happened. Source: https://www.livescience.com/stan-tyrnanosaurus-rex-dinosaur-auction.html
Bird-like dinosaurs that lost a finger show evolution in action
Bird-like dinosaurs called oviraptorids normally had three fingers, but skeletons rescued from fossil poachers reveal a new species with just two Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2256262-bird-like-dinosaurs-that-lost-a-finger-show-evolution-in-action/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Exxon’s Plan For Surging Carbon Emissions Revealed In Leaked Documents
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Exxon Mobil has been planning to increase annual carbon-dioxide emissions by as much as the output of the entire nation of Greece, an analysis of internal documents reviewed by Bloomberg shows, setting one of the largest corporate emitters against international efforts to slow the pace of warming. The drive to expand both fossil-fuel…
Did this mass extinction event trigger dawn of the dinosaurs?
New research suggests that a series of huge volcanic eruptions, 233 million years ago, led to a mass extinction event that heralded the dawn of the dinosaurs. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/mass-extinction-event-trigger-dawn-of-dinosaurs…