| Venus Express reboots the search for active volcanoes on Venus |
| ESA’s Venus Express has measured a highly variable quantity of the volcanic gas sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere of Venus. Scientists must now decide whether this is evidence for active volcanoes on Venus, or linked to a hitherto unknown mechanism affecting the upper atmosphere. |
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| News from Earth's magnetic field |
| It is widely known that the geomagnetic field shields our planet against highly energetic cosmic particles. The importance of the magnetic field for answering geological, tectonic or even archaeological questions is less known. Where do large, very old meteorite craters exist like, for example, the one that might have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs? How did the continents move about the globe through geological times? How does the hidden subterranean structure of a volcano look like, i.e. how high is the danger of eruption" Where had towns and buildings of ancient civilizations been located, which have long since been destroyed? |
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| BUGS GO SPELUNKING |
| Some of the world's largest and most spectacular caves were created by the tiniest builders imaginable, according to a team of US geologists. |
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| DOOMSDAY POLAR FLIP TAKES 7000 YEARS |
| A reversal of the Earth's magnetic field, a rare but feared event due to the catastrophic effect it could have on human life, takes about 7000 years to complete, a U.S. scientist predicts. |
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| METHANE ON MARS MAY SIGNAL VOLCANOES |
| The Mars Express orbiter has detected minute traces of methane in the Martian atmosphere, a finding that could point to volcanic activity or fermenting microorganisms. |
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| MARTIAN MYSTERY EXPLAINED |
| The spiral troughs of Mars' polar ice caps have been called the most enigmatic landforms in the solar system. The deep canyons spiraling out from Red Planet’s North and South poles cover hundreds of miles. No other planet has such structures. |
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| DID CRACKING CONTINENT TRIGGER A DEEP FREEZE? |
| The break-up of a supercontinent may have caused a 'Snowball Earth'.
The Earth might have been sent into an ice age by the break-up of a supercontinent 750 million years ago, creating a global snowball. |
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| INCAN MUMMIES FOUND BY EDGE OF ROAD |
| Dozens of mummies dating back more than 500 years have been discovered on the path of a proposed highway on the outskirts of the Peruvian capital. |
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| STANFORD STUDY QUESTIONS IDENTITY OF ALLEGED ROMANOV BONES |
| One of the most riveting detective stories of the last century supposedly ended in 1998, when the Russian government declared that bones excavated from a Siberian mass grave seven years earlier indeed belonged to the Romanovs, Russia's last royal family, who were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. |
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| ANTARCTIC DINOSAURS FOUND IN ICY GRAVES |
| Two new species of dinosaur, one a meat eater, the other a plant eater, have been found in Antarctica, by an international team of scientists. |
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Geology
