Latest Isotopic signature Stories
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Los Gatos Research (LGR), the leader in precision trace gas and isotope analyzers, has introduced the world's first instrument to simultaneously and continuously provide all three stable isotope ratios (delta-13C, delta-17O, and delta-18O) for CO2, directly from ambient air samples with no pre-concentration required. With data sampling rates as fast as 10 Hz, the Triple Isotope CO2 Analyzer provides a real-time and...
Innovative research technique reveals C4 grasses older than previously thought A new analysis of fossilized grass-pollen grains deposited on ancient European lake and sea bottoms 16-35 million years ago reveals that C4 grasses evolved earlier than previously thought. This new evidence casts doubt on the widely-held belief that the rise of this incredibly productive group of plants was driven by a large drop in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations during the Oligocene epoch. The...
New research involving scientists from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) highlights the potential utility of iron isotopes for addressing important questions in ocean science. The findings are published in the August edition of the journal Geology.Large regions of the world's oceans have low primary production despite having plenty of macronutrients such as phosphate, nitrate and silicate. This is due a shortage of the essential micro-nutrient iron, which is needed for the...
The Earth has experienced many turning points over its 4.5-billion-year history, such as periods of extreme temperature changes, asteroids and the arrival and disappearance of various life forms. But one of the most monumental events was the Cambrian-era explosion of life some 540 million years ago, when complex, multi-cellular life burst out all over the planet.Scientists point to this critical period as leading to life as we know it today, although its precise causes were not completely...
More and more, scientists are getting a better grip on the nitrogen cycle. They are learning about sources of nitrogen and how this element changes as it loops from the nonliving, such as the atmosphere, soil or water, to the living, whether plants or animals. Scientists have determined that humans are disrupting the nitrogen cycle by altering the amount of nitrogen that is stored in the biosphere.The chief culprit is fossil fuel combustion, which releases nitric oxides into the air that...
Unraveling the origins of agriculture in different regions around the globe has been a challenge for archeologists. Now researchers writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences report finding evidence of early human experiments with grain cultivation in East Asia. They gathered this information from an unlikely source"•dog and pig bones.The dog and pig bones, as well as bones of other animals analyzed in the study, come from an archaeological site in a region of northwest...
