Study of microbes reveals new insight about Earth’s geology and carbon cycles | Argonne National Laboratory
http://www.anl.gov/...les/study-microbes-reveals-new-insight-about-earth-s-geology-and-carbon-cycles

Tiny microbes play a big role in cycling carbon and other key elements through our air, water, soil and sediment.
Not only do microbes capture and release carbon, contributing to a cycle that is central to life on Earth, they also
release compounds that can change existing minerals and form new ones — in turn shaping the geology of the world around us.

Grasping the biological, chemical and geological processes microbes engage in is critical to understanding and predicting
global climate, greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient transport and other natural phenomena.

Researchers who study these processes at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have discovered that
these microbial communities are significantly affected by the types of carbon “food” sources available. Their findings,
published in the journal PLOS ONE, reveal that the type of carbon source affects not only the composition and activity
of natural microbial communities, but also in turn the types of mineral products that form in their environment.

A Break in the Search for the Origin of Complex Life – IPSA SCIENTIA POTESTAS EST
https://bioinfonerd.wordpress.com/2017/01/14/a-break-in-the-search-for-the-origin-of-complex-life/
A group of newly discovered microbes, named after Norse gods, may belong to the lineage from which we evolved.

We’re one step closer to identifying the precursors that led to complex organisms (such as multicellular eukaryotes... that’s you and I).
We always knew our primordial ancestors were of the microbe variety. Now, we may have have found them. Meet Asgard archaea...

The Cosmos’ Fine-Tuning Does Not Imply a Fine-Tuner - Facts So Romantic - Nautilus
http://nautil.us/blog/the-cosmos-fine_tuning-does-not-imply-a-fine_tuner

The fine-tuning argument rests on an interesting discovery of physical cosmology that the odds were strongly stacked against life.

XCHAOS: Supr, díky za to info kolem. Roman Tkačenko je úžasný chlapík.

NASA - Venus Landsailing Rover
https://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/early_stage_innovation/niac/2012_phase_I_fellows_landis.html

Chybějící telemetrie, ale zřejmě problémy s příjmem na pozemní stanici...

How the darkness and the cold killed the dinosaurs | EurekAlert! Science News
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-01/pifc-htd011317.php

66 million years ago, the sudden extinction of the dinosaurs started the ascent of the mammals, ultimately resulting in humankind's reign on Earth.
Climate scientists now reconstructed how tiny droplets of sulfuric acid formed high up in the air after the well-known impact of a large asteroid
and blocking the sunlight for several years, had a profound influence on life on Earth. Plants died, and death spread through the food web. Previous
theories focused on the shorter-lived dust ejected by the impact. The new computer simulations show that the droplets resulted in long-lasting cooling,
a likely contributor to the death of land-living dinosaurs. An additional kill mechanism might have been a vigorous mixing of the oceans, caused by
the surface cooling, severely disturbing marine ecosystems.

"The big chill following the impact of the asteroid that formed the Chicxulub crater in Mexico is a turning point in Earth history," says Julia Brugger
from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), lead author of the study to be published today in the Geophysical Research Letters. "We
can now contribute new insights for understanding the much debated ultimate cause for the demise of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous era."
To investigate the phenomenon, the scientists for the first time used a specific kind of computer simulation normally applied in different contexts,
a climate model coupling atmosphere, ocean and sea ice. They build on research showing that sulfur- bearing gases that evaporated from the violent
asteroid impact on our planet's surface were the main factor for blocking the sunlight and cooling down Earth.

VIRGO: To celkem jde

DARKMOOR: 1ks za +/- 20 doláčů + 12 ship-handl (objednal jsem rovnou dva).

VIRGO: Co je malé, to je milé ;)
Na kolik tě přišel?

Is Time an Illusion? | Prof Sean Carroll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAm7wAbeEsc

Are there volcanoes on comets? | Astronomy.com
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/01/comet-volcanoes
Explosive research says there may be cryovolcanism on cometary bodies.

Volcanoes may not just exist on moons and planets. A comet orbiting between Mars and Jupiter seems to have its own signs of icy volcanism,
spewing frozen material instead of hot lava. Rather than a single stagnant mound, however, the eruptions come from a single location multiple
times before eventually traveling to another point in the icy crust.

The slow rotation of the comet allows the crust to weaken over the course of its day, while carbon monoxide piles up on the surface again
during the night. Eventually, the pressure building beneath the surface erupts. Unlike the jets spotted on other comets, the cold ‘lava’
bursts through suddenly and explosively, with no signs of gradual buildup.

“It’s an abrupt event,” says Richard Miles a cometary scientist with the British Astronomical Association who presented the results at
the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Pasadena, California. Once the explosion is complete, it shuts down without the slow
decline common to jets. “It’s done, and everything tapers out. It’s what you would expect from cryovolcanism.”