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NASA scientists react to 400 ppm carbon milestone

Earlier this week, the space agency released a new simulation created with this model, called GEOS-5, that shows clouds of carbon dioxide, a key driver of global warming, drifting far from their original sources - turning local greenhouse gases into global problems.

"Some of the most exciting things that we've seen from looking at gene expression in space is that we really see an explosion, like fireworks taking off, as soon as the human body gets into space," Twins Study principal investigator Chris Mason said in a statement.

Healthy plants reflect more near-infrared light than stressed plants, so bright red indicates dense, growing foliage. For this reason, biologists and ecologists occasionally use infrared cameras to photograph forests. 

Origins of Life Abiogenesis article in Wikipedia. The Origin of Life - Abiogenesis, a youtube video produced by Chuck Kopec.  A Simpler Origin for Life, an article by Robert Shapiro in Scientific American. The Miller-Urey Experiment article in Wikipedia. RNA and the RNA World Exploring the New RNA World, an essay by Thomas Cech published on the Nobel Prize website. RNA Video Clips from the HHMI website that include demonstrations of catalysis and interviews with Thomas Cech. A World Apart, an HHMI article about RNA World reseearch and the role of RNAs in medicine.  RNA World article in Wikipedia. Protocells The Emergence of Cells During the Origin of Life, an essay by Irene Chen published in Science.  What Came Before DNA? an article published in Discover featuring Jack Szostak and Steven Benner.  The Szostak Lab Astrobiology The National Astrobiology Institute, established by NASA to study life in the universe.  The SETI Institute, studying the origins, nature and prevalence of life in the universe.  Astrobiology: The Search for Life, a website hosted by the Exploratorium.

This animated GIF shows landmark moments that happened during the warmest and coldest years in modern record.

This animation was sponsored by the Center for Chemical Evolution, NSF, and NASA: http://centerforchemicalevolution.com/

"That changed when NASA created the Landsat program, a series of satellites that would perpetually orbit our planet, looking not out but down. Surveillance spacecraft had done that before, of course, but they paid attention only to military or tactical sites. Landsat was a notable exception, built not for spycraft but for public monitoring of how the human species was altering the surface of the planet."

4:17 video Think of the ozone layer as Earth's sunglasses, protecting life on the surface from the harmful glare of the sun's strongest ultraviolet rays, which can cause skin cancer and other maladies. Ozone stinks. People who breathe it gag as their lungs burn. The EPA classifies ground-level ozone as air pollution. Yet without it, life on Earth would be impossible. A fragile layer of ozone 25 km above Earth's surface is all that stands between us and some of the harshest UV rays from the sun. The ozone molecule O3 blocks radiation which would otherwise burn skin and cause cancer. On Mars, which has no ozone layer to protect it, solar UV rays strafe the surface with deadly effect, leaving the apparently lifeless planet without the simplest of organic molecules in the upper millimeters of exposed Martian soil.

Cool science infographics!  Includes a "how to" make infographics post