MIT researchers have determined that the Earth’s geomagnetic field will not flip in the near future, reports Felicia Gans for The Boston Globe. While the intensity of the Earth’s geomagnetic field is decreasing, the current level is “double the planet’s average intensity over the past 5 million years.”
Researchers with the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology have found that fertilizing the ocean to create plankton blooms could lead to erratic rainfall patterns, reports Audrey Tan for The Straits Times. “This would have a drastic impact on the water cycle, the environment and human livelihoods,” writes Tan.
CBC News reports that MIT researchers have detected a circular ring of debris circulating the minor planet Chiron. “If true, Chiron would join Chariklo as the second centaur with such a halo. It would also become only the sixth ringed body in Earth's solar system,” CBC reports.
MIT researchers have found that the minor planet Chiron may have a system of rings, reports Monte Morin for the Los Angeles Times. The researchers observed Chiron passing in front of a bright star and observed that Chiron's shadow contained some features “that suggested something surrounding the centaur was blocking the light.”
NASA’s Curiosity rover has discovered methane and carbon in Martian rocks, reports Andrew Soergel for U.S. News & World Report. “Organics are important because they can tell us about the chemical pathways by which they were formed and preserved,” says Prof. Roger Summons, a member of the Curiosity team.
Wall Street Journal reporter Atish Patel highlights new MIT research indicating that volcanic activity may have contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Patel explains that the findings suggest “dinosaurs were already in decline, suffering from the climate change prompted by the volcanic eruptions.”
Professor Roger Summons is part of the Curiosity team that has detected a large spike in methane on Mars, which could indicate the presence of life, writes Brid-Aine Parnell for Forbes. “This first confirmation of organic carbon in a rock on Mars holds much promise,” says Summons.
Researchers have uncovered evidence that volcanic activity could have contributed to the extinction of dinosaurs, reports Joel Achenbach for The Washington Post. Prof. Sam Bowring says the eruption “began just prior to the extinction and continued throughout.”
Carolyn Johnson of The Boston Globe reports on Prof. Benjamin Weiss’ research examining evidence that the moon had a magnetic field. Johnson writes that analysis of moon rocks has shown that the moon "had a magnetic field caused by an ancient core dynamo.”
MIT researchers have discovered that Earth’s early atmosphere may have been destroyed by thousands of small asteroids, writes Rachel Feltman of The Washington Post. Feltman explains that researchers found, “a real flurry of these small impacts…could have completely ejected the atmosphere.”
Scientific American reporter Charles Choi writes that MIT researchers have uncovered evidence that magnetic fields played a role in forming the early solar system. "Magnetic fields can introduce viscosity into the disk, essentially making the gas in it more sticky," explains MIT graduate student Roger Fu.
Macrina Cooper-White of The Huffington Post writes that MIT researchers have found evidence that the giant basin on the moon was created by ancient volcanic eruptions and not from an asteroid impact. An asteroid would have created a circular basin, but researchers found that the basin is actually more rectangular in shape, Cooper-White reports.
Jonathan Amos of BBC News reports that MIT researchers have identified a large rectangular feature on the moon. “The 2,500km-wide structure is believed to be the remains of old rift valleys that later became filled with lava,” writes Amos.
Washington Post reporter Rachel Feltman writes that researchers have found evidence that the moon’s basin was formed by magma flows. "For anyone who's ever looked up at the moon and wondered why it has this pattern on its surface — now we have an answer,” says MIT Vice President for Research Maria Zuber.