2004
8 January 2004. NASA RELEASE
: 04-016, Borax
Minerals May Have Been Key To Start Of Life
On Earth. Astrobiologists,
supported by NASA, have announced a major
advance in understanding how life may have
originated on Earth billions of years ago.
A team of scientists report in the January
9 issue of Science that ribose and other simple
sugars that are among life's building blocks
could have accumulated in the early Earth's
oceans if simple minerals, such as borax,
were present.
SATELLITE
DATA TO PREDICT PLANKTON BLOOMS BY ANALYZING
OCEAN COLOR -- Scientists
analyzing satellite data on ocean color
are gaining new insights into ocean productivity
and climate. A green ocean is a productive
ocean; the light from the sun fuels the "bloom" of
phytoplankton, tiny ocean plants that
turn the sea's surface a light green each
spring. This production in turn drives
ocean food webs. New research, published
in the journal Science on April 26, assesses
the color of the ocean and finds that
it may yield clues about the relation
between marine ecosystems and the climate
system. The research was funded by the
National Science Foundation (NSF) and
NASA
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