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Categories: Geoscience: Geology, Space: Cosmology
Published Rock steady: Study reveals new mechanism to explain how continents stabilized



Ancient, expansive tracts of continental crust called cratons have helped keep Earth's continents stable for billions of years, even as landmasses shift, mountains rise and oceans form. A new mechanism may explain how the cratons formed some 3 billion years ago, an enduring question in the study of Earth's history.
Published Researchers show that slow-moving earthquakes are controlled by rock permeability



A research group explores how the makeup of rocks, specifically their permeability -- or how easily fluids can flow through them -- affects the frequency and intensity of slow slip events. Slow slips' role in the earthquake cycle may help lead to a better model to predict when earthquakes happen.
Published From fossils to fuel: Mozambique's Maniamba Basin's energy potential



In the ever-expanding search for energy resources, a new study has emerged from Mozambique's Maniamba Basin. Mozambique's Maniamba Basin could be a big source of natural gas.
Published Geologists, biologists unearth the atomic fingerprints of cancer



Earth scientists have long turned to minute differences in hydrogen atoms to explore the ancient history of our planet. A new study suggests that these same tiny atoms might also lead to new ways to track the growth of cancer.
Published Venus has almost no water: A new study may reveal why



Billions of years ago, Venus may have harbored as much water as Earth. Today, almost all of it has disappeared. A new study may help to explain why.
Published Astronomers observe elusive stellar light surrounding ancient quasars



Astronomers observed the elusive starlight surrounding some of the earliest quasars in the universe. The findings may shed light on how the earliest supermassive black holes became so massive despite having a relatively short amount of cosmic time in which to grow.
Published Hubble views a galaxy with a voracious black hole



Bright, starry spiral arms surround an active galactic center in a new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy NGC 4951. Located in the Virgo constellation, NGC 4951 is located roughly 50 million light-years away from Earth. It's classified as a Seyfert galaxy, which means that it's an extremely energetic type of galaxy with an active galactic nucleus (AGN).
Published Did a magnetic field collapse trigger the emergence of animals?



Researchers uncovered compelling evidence that Earth's magnetic field was in a highly unusual state when the macroscopic animals of the Ediacaran Period -- 635 to 541 million years ago -- diversified and thrived. Their study raises the question of whether these fluctuations in Earth's ancient magnetic field led to shifts in oxygen levels that may have been crucial to the proliferation of life forms millions of years ago.
Published Human activity is causing toxic thallium to enter the Baltic sea, according to new study



Human activities account for 20% to more than 60% of toxic thallium entering the Baltic Sea over the past eight decades, according to new research. Currently, the amount of thallium, which is considered the most toxic metal for mammals, remains low in Baltic seawater. Much of the thallium in the Baltic, which is the largest human-induced hypoxic area on Earth, has been accumulated in the sediment thanks to sulfide minerals.
Published A 'cosmic glitch' in gravity



Researchers have discovered a potential 'cosmic glitch' in the universe's gravity, explaining its strange behavior on a cosmic scale.
Published Rock solid evidence: Angola geology reveals prehistoric split between South America and Africa



A research team has found that ancient rocks and fossils from long-extinct marine reptiles in Angola clearly show a key part of Earth's past -- the splitting of South America and Africa and the subsequent formation of the South Atlantic Ocean.
Published Webb captures top of iconic horsehead nebula in unprecedented detail



NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured the sharpest infrared images to date of a zoomed-in portion of one of the most distinctive objects in our skies, the Horsehead Nebula. These observations show the top of the 'horse's mane' or edge of this iconic nebula in a whole new light, capturing the region's complexity with unprecedented spatial resolution.
Published Astronomers' simulations support dark matter theory



Computer simulations by astronomers support the idea that dark matter -- matter that no one has yet directly detected but which many physicists think must be there to explain several aspects of the observable universe -- exists, according to the researchers.
Published Gemini south reveals origin of unexpected differences in giant binary stars



Astronomers have confirmed that differences in binary stars' composition can originate from chemical variations in the cloud of stellar material from which they formed. The results help explain why stars born from the same molecular cloud can possess different chemical composition and host different planetary systems, as well as pose challenges to current stellar and planet formation models.
Published Human activities have an intense impact on Earth's deep subsurface fluid flow



Hydrologists predict human-induced underground fluid fluxes to rise with climate change mitigation strategies like carbon sequestration.
Published Researchers find oldest undisputed evidence of Earth's magnetic field



A new study has recovered a 3.7-billion-year-old record of Earth's magnetic field, and found that it appears remarkably similar to the field surrounding Earth today.
Published Toward unification of turbulence framework -- weak-to-strong transition discovered in turbulence



Astrophysicists have made a significant step toward solving the last puzzle in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence theory by observing the weak to strong transition in the space plasma turbulence surrounding Earth with newly developed multi-spacecraft analysis methods.
Published Giant galactic explosion exposes galaxy pollution in action



Astronomers have produced the first high-resolution map of a massive explosion in a nearby galaxy, providing important clues on how the space between galaxies is polluted with chemical elements.
Published The Italian central Apennines as a source of CO2



Tectonically active mountains play an important role in the natural CO2 regulation of the atmosphere. Competing processes take place here: At Earth's surface, erosion drives weathering processes that absorb or release CO2, depending on the type of rock. At depth, the heating and melting of carbonate rock leads to the outgassing of CO2 at the surface. In the central Italian Apennine Mountains, researchers have now investigated and balanced all of these processes in one region for the first time -- using, among others, analyses of the CO2 content in mountain rivers and springs.
Published Scientists trigger mini-earthquakes in the lab



Earthquakes and landslides are famously difficult to predict and prepare for. By studying a miniature version of the ground in the lab, scientists have demonstrated how these events can be triggered by a small external shock wave. Bring a flotation device: it involves the ground briefly turning into a liquid!