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The exact mechanism used by microorganisms to produce the neurotoxin methyl mercury is unclear. The latest laboratory studies point to the amino acid cysteine as an important aid for the uptake of inorganic mercury and its transformation to methyl mercury in Geobacter sulfurreducens.
Field studies and experimental research during the past two decades have provided considerable evidence for a significant influence of climate on tectonics. Recent advances suggest that model predictions can guide future fieldwork aimed at substantiating this view.
Climate models predict that increasing greenhouse gas levels will invigorate the circulation in the upper atmosphere. But a close look at observations of the age of stratospheric air over 30 years reveals no acceleration in the circulation.
Meteorites frequently bombarded the surface of the early Earth. Could these impacts have provided the energy and materials to form the basic building blocks of life?
The lack of deep mixing in the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean for over a decade has raised concerns that climate warming may already be affecting the ocean circulation. A vigorous convection event last winter shows that the system holds some surprises yet.
Sub-surface oceans probably exist on several large satellites of Jupiter and Saturn. An analysis of Europa's tides suggests that some of the Rossby waves are resonantly enhanced by the obliquity, producing sufficient heat and flow to keep the ocean liquid.
Measurements of directional travel speed of seismic waves constrain flow in the upper mantle. Laboratory experiments suggest that high pressure can change the mantle's mineral alignment, leading to a 90° offset in the direction of the fastest seismic waves.
Volcanism in the enormous Tharsis region on Mars migrated from south to north. Numerical modelling suggests that this migration as well as the current location of the region can be explained by net rotation of the lithosphere relative to the mantle.
The North Atlantic Oscillation has shown high variability over the past few decades. A two-hundred-year-long temperature reconstruction from a Bermuda coral suggests a link to recent climate warming.
The Earth's known rock reservoirs contain more radiogenic lead than expected on average. Mantle-derived rocks with highly unradiogenic lead — as discovered in the Horoman massif — may bear witness to a previously unsampled, complementary reservoir.
Two-thirds of terrestrial carbon is stored as organic matter in soils, but its response to warming has yet to be resolved. A soil warming experiment in a Canadian forest has revealed that the leaf-derived compound cutin is resistant to decomposition under elevated temperatures.
The influence of climate on mountain building has long been debated. A reconstruction for the past 25 million years suggests coincidence of Himalayan erosion and monsoon intensification, hinting at a causal relationship.
The Snowball Earth concept envisages a fully frozen Earth for millions of years several times during the Neoproterzoic Era between 1,000 and 542 million years ago. However, the sedimentary evidence suggests that despite the severity of glaciation, some oceans must have remained ice-free.
Glaciologists have speculated that subglacial floods might lead to increased ice flow rates, altering Antarctica's mass balance and contribution to sea-level rise. Now, observations from Byrd Glacier in East Antarctica firmly link a subglacial flood to a 10% speed up of the glacier.
The interactions between climate and tectonics in active mountain ranges are complex and important. Field and geophysical data from the St Elias Range of Alaska show that glacial erosion can influence the dynamics of the lithosphere in such settings.
