Although the science of rocks is regarded as a dull, boring field, there's much more to it than just looking at an inert stone formation. Minerals are intimately linked to a planet's evolution and, moreover, to the emergence and development of life. In fact, this goes both ways, as minerals and life affect... |
14 November 2008
06:06 GMT |
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An international collaboration between scientists from the United States, Germany and Japan concluded its investigation recently with the discovery of a new mineral compound of manganese silicide, named Brownleeite, which probably originated from a periodical comet that passes through the inner regions of the solar s... |
13 June 2008
05:40 GMT |
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The brave cartoon sailor based his power on spinach consumption or at least, that's what we know. But what's real the story behind all that?Spinach is an annually cultivated herbaceous plant with a taproot of up to 1.8 m (6 ft) long. The leaves are fleshy and dark green, reach in minerals, nutrients and vit... |
24 April 2008
08:30 GMT |
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1.Mining started in the Neolithic (New Stone Age), 12,000 years ago, when people gathered grit from the surface of the ground, and later from subterranean deposits. At first, grit mines were made of vertical wells, up to 2 m (6.6 ft) wide and 10 m (33 ft) deep. Tunnels were excavated at the bottom of the well, until ... |
28 January 2008
06:56 GMT |
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1. Soil is the fragile and loosened material covering most of the ground surface and supporting life. At an overall human population of 6 billion, 2.5 hectares of ground are corresponded to each person. But 70 % of the ground surface is of no use for humans: barren, frozen or snow covered areas, steep mountains, sand... |
24 January 2008
08:40 GMT |
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Calcareous rocks, like limestone and marble (a rock modified by heat and pressure), are made mainly by calcite, a mineral form of the calcium carbonate. The calcite is insoluble in pure water, but the rain water contains carbon dioxide, coming from air or soil, and forms a weak acid that react with the calcite, resul... |
14 January 2008
11:35 GMT |
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The world "volcano" comes from the Roman god of fire Vulcan, the equivalent of Hephaistos in the Greek mythology. In the ancient times, people attributed to the volcanoes a supernatural personality, which was worshiped. Old Greeks believed the Earth was a floating disc over the surface of an ocean whose storms trigge... |
3 November 2007
07:07 GMT |
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The power of Superman is at our reach. Kryptonite, the green mineral that sapped the hero's power when exposed to it, has turned from fiction to reality, as a similar one has just been discovered by a team from the mining group Rio Tinto in a Serbian mine. "The real mineral is white and harmless. (...) it'... |
24 April 2007
07:16 GMT |
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