Organism Found Living at Extreme Depths beneath Seafloor: 1.6 Kilometers
	The previous greatest depth under the surface of the seafloor at which life was found is about two times less than that of the current record of 1.6 kilometers, thus encouraging future life searches on other planets in the solar system. The newly found microscopic life is also believed to be one of the hottest ever discovered, since it is living at temperatures ranging between 60 to 100 degrees Celsius. The evidence comes from sediment ... [read more >>]
	26 May 2008, 11:19GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

How Human Spontaneous Combustion Works
	Question: Can human beings and other living organisms, for that matter, burn spontaneously? Apparently yes, although there is no known scientific explanation for the phenomenon to date. The first case of such an occurrence was allegedly reported by anatomist Thomas Bartholin in 1663, who described how a woman burst into flames while sleeping, and leaving behind only ashes and all things around the body untouched by the flames. Si ... [read more >>]
	23 April 2008, 08:58GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Methane Found on Distant Exo-Planet
	Another exo-planet found and yet another intriguing discovery! Astronomers reveal that an exo-planet detected back in 2005, located in a solar system in the Vulpecula constellation, 63 light-years away from Earth, has a methane-rich atmosphere. The planet dubbed HD 189733b is a gas giant relatively similar to Jupiter, orbiting its star from a close distance. Just last year, with the help of the Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers[ADMA ... [read more >>]
	20 March 2008, 03:44GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

It's Raining Methane on Titan!
	New observations with the Cassini orbiter show that Saturn's moon Titan contains large quantities of hydrocarbon liquid, about a few hundred times more than the natural reserves found here on Earth. Hydrocarbon gas condenses into Titan's dense atmosphere, then it is raining down on its surface much in the same way water rain falls on our planet, and the liquid is collected in vast deposits to form lakes and dunes of nat ... [read more >>]
	14 February 2008, 02:48GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

MOF Beats World Record for Storing Methane
	I think it is pretty obvious that the petrol alone will not be sufficient enough to satisfy our energy needs in the near future. Thus, the scientists are permanently looking for alternative fuels and energy production devices. Natural gas is just one of the alternatives. Now you are probably wondering why we are not using it to power our cars, since its is highly efficient and produces far less pollution during the burning proces ... [read more >>]
	22 January 2008, 06:05GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Methane Gas Ocean Emissions Pose no Threat to Environment
	Methane gas escapes from ocean floor fossil deposits at a rate of about two hundred or more cubic meters every day, which poses some environmental concerns, as the methane gas is a greenhouse gas, which causes a global warming effect 23 times more accentuated than carbon dioxide would, during a century. About half of that quantity is being dissolved into the ocean water, however, the other half of the quantity is thought to escape into the ... [read more >>]
	21 December 2007, 08:40GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

New Plastic Means More Fuel and Less Global Warming
	Plastics may be toxic, but this one could clean the atmosphere of green house effect gases. A specially developed plastic imitating cell membrane can take carbon dioxide out of natural gas, lowering the quantities of this greenhouse gas dumped into the atmosphere. The new material could also extract natural gas from decaying garbage and organic matter and cleanse contaminated water. The novel plastic permits the passage of ca ... [read more >>]
	25 October 2007, 08:40GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Hope for Extraterrestrial Life: Bacteria Can Survive 100,000 Years at -55° C and 300 Atmospheres!
	An icy "Star Wars" world exists on Earth as well. Only that the characters are microscopical. A new research points to the fact that bacteria could survive trapped inside ice crystals, at ice depths of 3 km (1.9 mi) for over 100,000 years. This gives hope for life on remote, icy worlds in the Sun System. Living bacteria have been discovered in ice samples taken at depths of 4 km (2.5 mi) in Antarctica, but many researchers reg ... [read more >>]
	09 October 2007, 03:48GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Frozen Tropical Paradise from Titan
	Have you ever imagined a tropical paradise at -274 °F (- 170 °C)? But on Earth…as such thing does exist on the Saturn's largest moon, Titan, the only moon in the Sun System large enough to have an atmosphere. Methane rainfall soaks dunes of ice or tar on Titan's arid deserts, like a frozen mirror image of Earth's tropics. "You have all these things that are analogous to Earth. At the same time, it's foreign and ... [read more >>]
	03 October 2007, 04:28GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

What's a Mud Volcano?
	A mud volcano has nothing to do with the proper volcanoes. Mud volcanoes appear mostly when gas pockets or gas deposits associated with oil manage to seep to the surface, transporting water mixed with solid material (mud, made mainly of clay and sand). Of course, these volcanoes are not hot at all, on the contrary, they can have temperatures that almost reach the freezing point. Their relief stands for 2-3 years, compared to tens of thousa ... [read more >>]
	15 August 2007, 13:51GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Extrasolar Planet Most Likely to Have Life Is an Oven, Now Cinderella Sister Carries the Hope
	Scientists around the world are disappointed, because the extrasolar planet that was the most likely to have liquid water on its surface, the key ingredient for life, has been found to be a boiling world, where water could never exist in its liquid state. The planet is the most Earth-like ever spotted and was thought to have perfect conditions for water, an essential ingredient for life. Researchers detected the planet orbiti ... [read more >>]
	19 June 2007, 03:33GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Life on Mars, Explained by Methane-Producing Microbes
	If there is life on Mars, how does it look like? In the present conditions, Martians can be no more than bacteria. And some quite hardy bacteria. That's why a team at University of Arkansas has checked some of the toughest bugs on Earth, three different species of methane producing microorganisms, in various soil types similar to those encountered on Mars' surface to see if there is life possible in the predilect S ... [read more >>]
	29 May 2007, 09:14GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

New Dams Would Burn the Methane from the Bottom of the Reservoirs
	Methane is a greenhouse effect gas 20 times more powerful than CO2. Fortunately, the emission of methane is reduced compared to that of CO2; but even so, its emissions are on a boom, due to human activity. Now a Brazilian team at National Space Research Institute (INPE) has found a way to cut off methane emission from hydro-electric dams, a main source of this gas, by capturing and burning it. The methane-produced energy could s ... [read more >>]
	14 May 2007, 06:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

How is the Ozone Layer Menaced?
	The ozone's problem was signaled even from the 70s, when the United States intended to open a supersonic fleet between New York and Paris. The researches revealed the destructive effects of the oxides resulted from combustion on the ozone layers. Few years later, researchers concluded that chlorofluorocarbons are equally harmful, used in the refrigeration installations and abandoned aerosols bottles which under the actio ... [read more >>]
	03 May 2007, 17:11GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Turning Methane Gas to Clean Energy
	Methane is a chemical compound with the molecular formula CH4. It is the simplest alkane and the principal component of natural gas. Burning one molecule of methane in the presence of oxygen releases one molecule of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and two molecules of H2O (water). Unfortunately, it's also an important greenhouse gas with a global warming potential, 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the a ... [read more >>]
	30 April 2007, 06:59GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia