Early life wasn’t much to look at — single-cell, chemosynthetic creatures and ancestorial viruses floating in chemical-rich, primordial oceans. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a start.
Author: William House
William is an earth scientist and writer with an interest in providing the science "backstory" for breaking environmental, earth science, and climate change news.
The Cost of Flooding We All Pay For
The cost of flooding in the USA is high. We’ve seen it, and we constantly read about it in the news. A recent survey of flood risk for commercial real estate is not encouraging.
Thwaites Glacier, What’s the Fuss
Despite the current political dismissals of threats from climate change, a rapid 2-foot rise in sea level would be bad news for Florida, Ron DeSantis, and the rest of the world. This threat is what the fuss is about.
Abiogenesis Jumpstarts Evolution
Life’s first challenge was achieving homeostasis by adapting to conditions in Earth’s oceans. Chemosynthetic bacteria were superbly suited to this task and they were probably the first cellular life forms, kicking off a grand evolutionary party.party.
Arctic Yedoma — Supercharging Greenhouse Gases
Yedoma, a highly organic, Pleistocene-age permafrost, contains 50 to 90 percent ice mixed with organic carbon. When Yedoma melts, it delivers a blast of potent greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
Righting Climate Change
Based on Florida’s recent response to the masking controversy, we can assume the “left-wing stuff” probably includes listening to the advice of scientists and proactively cutting greenhouse emissions.
News Spotlight – Rain, Rain, and More Rain
Climate Change brings new weather patters and more rain to many areas
An Existential View of Climate Change
Realistically, we should be clear about Anthropocene climate change. It doesn’t pose a threat to the biosphere. Life goes on.
Building Blocks of Life
Life spontaneously developed and given another water-rich solar system with a planet in the optimal temperature range for liquid water, we would expect it to happen again.
Water Created by the Sun
Water arrived on earth from asteroids and the evidence is that oceans have been on Earth almost since the planet’s inception.