Geochemistry News

February 6, 2026

Top Headlines

An Invisible Chemical Rain Is Falling Across the Planet

Feb. 6, 2026 A new study reveals that chemicals used to replace ozone-damaging CFCs are now driving a surge in a persistent “forever chemical” worldwide. The pollutant, called trifluoroacetic acid, is falling out of the atmosphere into water, land, and ice, ...

Melting Antarctic Ice May Weaken a Major Carbon Sink

Feb. 4, 2026 Melting ice from West Antarctica once delivered huge amounts of iron to the Southern Ocean, but algae growth did not increase as expected. Researchers found the iron was in a form that marine life could not easily use. This means more melting ice ...

New Catalyst Turns Carbon Dioxide Into Clean Fuel Source

Feb. 3, 2026 Researchers have found that manganese, an abundant and inexpensive metal, can be used to efficiently convert carbon dioxide into formate, a potential hydrogen source for fuel cells. The key was a clever redesign that made the catalyst last far ...

Hundreds of New Species Found in a Hidden World Beneath the Pacific

Feb. 2, 2026 As demand for critical metals grows, scientists have taken a rare, close look at life on the deep Pacific seabed where mining may soon begin. Over five years and 160 days at sea, researchers documented nearly 800 species, many previously unknown. ...

One of Earth’s Most Abundant Lifeforms Has a Fatal Flaw

Feb. 2, 2026 SAR11 bacteria dominate the world’s oceans by being incredibly efficient, shedding genes to survive in nutrient-poor waters. But that extreme streamlining appears to backfire when conditions change. Under stress, many cells keep copying their DNA ...

Ancient Oceans Stayed Oxygen Rich Despite Extreme Warming

Jan. 29, 2026 Scientists studying ancient ocean fossils found that the Arabian Sea was better oxygenated 16 million years ago, even though the planet was warmer than today. Oxygen levels only plunged millions of years later, after the climate cooled, defying ...

Tiny Mammals Are Sending Warning Signs Scientists Can Finally Read

Jan. 29, 2026 Small mammals are early warning systems for environmental damage, but many species look almost identical, making them hard to track. Scientists have developed a new footprint-based method that can tell apart nearly indistinguishable species with ...

A Breakthrough That Turns Exhaust CO2 Into Useful Materials

Jan. 29, 2026 Scientists have created a device that captures carbon dioxide and transforms it into a useful chemical in a single step. The new electrode works with realistic exhaust gases rather than requiring purified CO2. It converts the captured gas into ...

Forty Years of Forest Data Reveal a Changing Amazon

Jan. 25, 2026 After analyzing 40 years of tree records across the Andes and Amazon, researchers found that climate change is reshaping tropical forests in uneven ways. Some regions are steadily losing tree species, especially where conditions are hotter and ...

Microplastics Are Undermining the Ocean’s Power to Absorb Carbon

Jan. 17, 2026 Tiny plastic particles drifting through the oceans may be quietly weakening one of Earth’s most powerful climate defenses. New research suggests microplastics are disrupting marine life that helps oceans absorb carbon dioxide, while also releasing ...

Scientists Found the Soil Secret That Doubles Forest Regrowth

Jan. 15, 2026 New research shows tropical forests can recover twice as fast after deforestation when their soils contain enough nitrogen. Scientists followed forest regrowth across Central America for decades and found that nitrogen plays a decisive role in how ...

The Ocean Absorbed a Stunning Amount of Heat in 2025

Jan. 14, 2026 Earth’s oceans reached their highest heat levels on record in 2025, absorbing vast amounts of excess energy from the atmosphere. This steady buildup has accelerated since the 1990s and is now driving stronger storms, heavier rainfall, and rising ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:19pm EST

Scientists Discover Hidden Deep-Earth Structures Shaping the Magnetic Field

Feb. 5, 2026 Deep inside Earth, two massive hot rock structures have been quietly shaping the planet’s magnetic field for millions of years. Using ancient magnetic records and advanced simulations, scientists ...

750-Year-Old Indian Poems Reveal a Landscape Scientists Got Wrong

Feb. 1, 2026 Old Indian poems and folk songs are revealing a surprising truth about the land. Scientists found that descriptions of thorny trees and open grasslands in texts written as far back as the 1200s ...

Scientists Finally Explain Earth’s Strangest Fossils

Jan. 27, 2026 The Ediacara Biota are some of the strangest fossils ever found—soft-bodied organisms preserved in remarkable detail where preservation shouldn’t be possible. Scientists now think their survival ...

This New Building Material Pulls Carbon out of the Air

Jan. 21, 2026 A new building material developed by engineers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute could change how the world builds. Made using an enzyme that turns carbon dioxide into solid minerals, the material ...

A Deadly Chemical Frozen in Ice May Have Sparked Life on Earth

Jan. 16, 2026 Hydrogen cyanide, a toxic chemical, may have helped spark the chemistry that led to life. When frozen, it forms crystals with highly reactive surfaces that can drive unusual chemical reactions, even ...

A Shocking Amount of Plastic Is Floating in City Air

Jan. 12, 2026 Plastic pollution is not just in oceans and soil. Scientists have now found enormous amounts of microscopic plastic floating through urban air, far exceeding earlier estimates. Road dust and rainfall ...

The Oxygen You Breathe Depends on a Tiny Ocean Ingredient

Jan. 12, 2026 Microscopic ocean algae produce a huge share of Earth’s oxygen—but they need iron to do it. New field research shows that when iron is scarce, phytoplankton waste energy and photosynthesis ...

3.7-Billion-Year-Old Rocks Reveal How Earth and the Moon Were Born

Jan. 10, 2026 Crystals hidden in Australia’s oldest rocks have revealed new clues about how Earth and the Moon formed. The study suggests Earth’s continents didn’t begin growing until hundreds of millions of ...

Wildfires Are Polluting the Air Far More Than Thought

Jan. 7, 2026 Scientists have discovered that wildfires release far more air-polluting gases than previously estimated. Many of these hidden emissions can transform into fine particles that are dangerous to ...

Plants Can’t Absorb as Much CO2 as Climate Models Predicted

Jan. 5, 2026 CO2 can stimulate plant growth, but only when enough nitrogen is available—and that key ingredient has been seriously miscalculated. A new study finds that natural nitrogen fixation has been ...

We Are Living in a Golden Age of Species Discovery

Dec. 24, 2025 The search for life on Earth is speeding up, not slowing down. Scientists are now identifying more than 16,000 new species each year, revealing far more biodiversity than expected across animals, ...

Scientists Found a Dangerous Feedback Loop Accelerating Arctic Warming

Dec. 29, 2025 The Arctic is changing rapidly, and scientists have uncovered a powerful mix of natural and human-driven processes fueling that change. Cracks in sea ice release heat and pollutants that form clouds ...

Scientists Turn Carrot Waste Into Protein People Prefer

Dec. 30, 2025 Scientists have discovered a clever way to turn carrot processing leftovers into a nutritious and surprisingly appealing protein. By growing edible fungi on carrot side streams, researchers produced ...

How Earth Endured a Planet-Wide Inferno: The Secret Water Vault Under Our Feet

Dec. 26, 2025 When Earth was a molten inferno, water may have been locked safely underground rather than lost to space. Researchers discovered that bridgmanite deep in the mantle can store far more water at high ...

Microplastics Are Leaking Invisible Chemical Clouds Into Water

Dec. 31, 2025 Microplastics in rivers, lakes, and oceans aren’t just drifting debris—they’re constantly leaking invisible clouds of chemicals into the water. New research shows that sunlight drives this ...

Hidden Heat Beneath Greenland Could Change Sea Level Forecasts

Dec. 27, 2025 Scientists have built the most detailed 3D models yet of temperatures deep beneath Greenland. The results reveal uneven heat hidden below the ice, shaped by Greenland’s ancient path over a volcanic ...

Earth’s Early Oceans Hid the Secret Rise of Complex Life

Dec. 6, 2025 Scientists have discovered that complex life began evolving much earlier than traditional models suggested. Using an expanded molecular clock approach, the team showed that crucial cellular features ...

Scientists Stunned by a Massive Hydrothermal Field Off Greece

Dec. 30, 2025 Scientists have uncovered an extensive underwater vent system near Milos, Greece, hidden along active fault lines beneath the seafloor. These geological fractures act as pathways for hot, gas-rich ...

The Deep Ocean Is Fixing Carbon in Ways No One Expected

Dec. 10, 2025 Researchers have uncovered surprising evidence that the deep ocean’s carbon-fixing engine works very differently than long assumed. While ammonia-oxidizing archaea were thought to dominate carbon ...

Early Earth’s Sky May Have Created the First Ingredients for Life

Dec. 3, 2025 Researchers recreated conditions from billions of years ago and found that Earth’s young atmosphere could make key molecules linked to life. These sulfur-rich compounds, including certain amino ...

A Hidden Antarctic Shift Unleashed the Carbon That Warmed the World

Dec. 2, 2025 As the last Ice Age waned and the Holocene dawned, deep-ocean circulation around Antarctica underwent dramatic shifts that helped release long-stored carbon back into the atmosphere. Deep-sea ...

Tiny Yellowstone Quakes Ignite a Surge of Hidden Life Underground

Nov. 25, 2025 Researchers studying Yellowstone’s depths discovered that small earthquakes can recharge underground microbial life. The quakes exposed new rock and fluids, creating bursts of chemical energy that ...

Scientists Find a Massive Hidden CO2 Sponge Beneath the Ocean Floor

Dec. 11, 2025 Researchers found that eroded lava rubble beneath the South Atlantic can trap enormous amounts of CO2 for tens of millions of years. These porous breccia deposits store far more carbon than ...

A Global Shipping Detour Just Revealed a Hidden Climate Twist

Nov. 26, 2025 Rerouted shipping during Red Sea conflicts accidentally created a massive real-world experiment, letting scientists study how new low-sulfur marine fuels affect cloud formation. The sudden surge of ...

Scientists May Have Found the Planet That Made the Moon

Nov. 23, 2025 About 4.5 billion years ago, a colossal impact between the young Earth and a mysterious planetary body called Theia changed everything—reshaping Earth, forming the Moon, and scattering clues across ...

Solar Superstorm Gannon Crushed Earth’s Plasmasphere to a Record Low

Nov. 23, 2025 A massive solar storm in May 2024 gave scientists an unprecedented look at how Earth’s protective plasma layer collapses under intense space weather. With the Arase satellite in a perfect observing ...

Why Saving Microbes May Be the Most Important Conservation Effort Ever

Nov. 20, 2025 Researchers have launched the first coordinated plan to protect microbial biodiversity, calling attention to the “invisible 99% of life” that drives essential Earth systems. The IUCN has formally ...

This Engineered Fungus Cuts Emissions and Tastes Like Meat

Nov. 21, 2025 Scientists used CRISPR to boost the efficiency and digestibility of a fungus already known for its meatlike qualities. The modified strain grows protein far more quickly and with much less sugar ...

Massive Hidden Structures Deep Inside Earth May Explain How Life Began

Nov. 20, 2025 Scientists may finally be closing in on the origins of two colossal, mysterious structures buried nearly 1,800 miles inside Earth—hidden formations that have puzzled researchers for decades. New ...

Ancient Bogs Reveal a Hidden 15,000-Year Climate Shift

Nov. 19, 2025 Researchers discovered that ancient peat bogs grew rapidly when the Southern Westerly Winds suddenly shifted thousands of years ago. These wind changes affected both peatland carbon storage and how ...