New Atlas

Science Audio available

How plate tectonics may have changed the climate and paved the way for complex life to evolve

Michael Irving June 20, 2019

Evolution is usually gradual, but half a billion years ago it took off at a gallop in an event that’s now known as the Cambrian Explosion. One of the leading theories is this came from a huge spike in oxygen levels, and now a team may have found where all that oxygen come from – plate tectonics.

The trilobite is one of the most famous creatures to arise during the Cambrian Explosion – ...

Science Audio available

Caltech reactor could convert CO2 into breathable oxygen for space trips

Michael Irving May 28, 2019

Most oxygen in the universe isn’t in the form that we need to breathe: molecular oxygen, or O2. Now, researchers at Caltech claim to have created a reactor that can turn carbon dioxide into molecular oxygen, which could help us fight climate change here on Earth or generate oxygen for life in space.

Konstantinos Giapis, with the reactor that converts carbon dioxide into molecular oxygen

Science Audio available

Study links spikes in oxygen levels with bursts of evolution

Michael Irving May 14, 2019

Within a relatively short period of time, life burst forth into an incredible diversity of forms, in an event that has since come to be known as the Cambrian explosion. Now, an international team of scientists has found clues to what may have caused that – spikes in oxygen levels.

A new study adds support to the theory that spikes in oxygen levels helped make conditions ...

Biology Audio available

Organisms that breathe arsenic discovered in the Pacific Ocean

Michael Irving May 5, 2019

Arsenic is toxic to almost all life forms, but now researchers have discovered that some microbes in the Pacific Ocean actively breathe it. The discovery has implications for how life may adapt to a changing climate, as well as where we might find it on other planets.

A team has discovered microbes in the Pacific Ocean that can breathe arsenic

Energy Audio available

Real-world-ready artificial leaf can pluck carbon dioxide out of thin air

Michael Irving February 13, 2019

Over the last few years humans have tried to mimic nature with artificial leaves, but they’re never quite up to scratch. Now, researchers have designed a new version that could work under real-world conditions, sucking carbon dioxide out of the air and creating oxygen and synthetic fuels.

Researchers have developed a new design of artificial leaf that's able to pull carbon dioxide out ...

Environment Audio available

Fish found thriving in waters with almost no oxygen

Michael Irving January 20, 2019

During a recent expedition to the Gulf of California, a team of marine biologists discovered huge schools of fishes living in an environment that’s almost completely devoid of oxygen – levels well below the amount previously thought necessary for these animals.

A lollipop catshark, which was recently discovered thriving in an environment with far less oxygen than ...

Environment Audio available

New study finds oceans are warming up much faster than previously thought

Michael Irving November 5, 2018

The oceans are heating up at an alarming rate, and it turns out that the problem may be worse than we initially thought. A new study has used a more accurate technique to measure the rate of ocean warming, and found that it could be 60 percent higher than the current worst-case scenario suggests.

A new study has found that the rate of ocean warming as a result of climate ...

Medical

Superbugs might meet their match in oxygen weaponized by light

Michael Irving August 20, 2018

To avoid a future where once-routine procedures become life-threatening again, new ways to fight bacteria need to be developed. A new study has now shown oxygen can be weaponized against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, by way of nanoparticles activated by light.

Researchers have developed a new weapon against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, where light is used to produce reactive ...

Physics

X-rays from deep space help track down the universe's missing matter

Michael Irving June 21, 2018

Ordinary (or baryonic) matter is relatively rare in the universe, and there seems to be a huge chunk of it missing. After 20 years of scouring the sky, astronomers using the ESA’s XMM-Newton observatory have now found clues to this missing matter hiding in intergalactic gas.

Astronomers have found evidence of the universe's "missing matter" lurking in intergalactic gas between filaments of ...

Space

Most distant breath of oxygen dates back to the Cosmic Dawn

Michael Irving May 16, 2018

Elements like oxygen, carbon and nitrogen weren’t very common until the first stars had fired up, burnt out and exploded. Now, astronomers using ALMA have detected the most distant – and hence, earliest – signature of oxygen, in a galaxy 13.28 billion light-years away.

"Cosmic Dawn" was the time when the first stars began lighting up the universe, ionizing the ...