Tag: planetary habitability
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Earth’s Continents Stabilized by Furnace-Like Heat, Study Finds
New Insight into a Geological Mystery For billions of years, Earth’s continents have provided the stable platforms that support mountains, ecosystems, and human civilizations. A new study by researchers at Penn State and Columbia University offers the clearest explanation yet: extreme heat in the planet’s lower continental crust acted as a furnace, driving a process…
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Liquid Water on Ryugu Reveals a Billion-Year-Old Secret
Liquid Water on Ryugu: A Hidden Water Trail Across Time A recent study of tiny rock fragments returned from the asteroid Ryugu by JAXA’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft has upended assumptions about when and how water could move through asteroids. The research, involving scientists from the University of Tokyo among others, shows that liquid water once traversed…