Carbon is the 4th most abundant element in the universe. It’s everywhere, from the air you breathe to the carbohydrates in your food to the petroleum in the Earth’s crust. Like most elements, carbon was not created by the Big Bang, but came from 2 different types of stars that fuse lighter elements together. 

Massive stars at least 8 times the Sun’s mass fuse 3 helium atoms into a carbon atom in their cores, through a mechanism called the triple-alpha process. They eventually expel this carbon into space, either through a stream of material called a stellar wind or at the end of their lives during a core-collapse supernova. 

Meanwhile, low-to-intermediate-sized stars between ½ and 8 times the Sun’s mass also induce the triple-alpha process. But unlike massive stars, they produce carbon not in their cores, but in a dense shell of helium that surrounds them during an advanced stage known as the asymptotic giant branch or AGB. AGB stars undergo cycles of swelling and contraction, during which they shed some of their material into space.

While scientists understand these processes, the contribution of each star type to the carbon supply in the universe remains uncertain. To address this, a team of scientists modeled how the chemical elements in the Milky Way Galaxy change over time with different contributions from the 2 carbon-creating processes. They then verified their findings by comparing them with the actual carbon concentration in the Milky Way.

To obtain the benchmark for the Milky Way Galaxy’s carbon content, the team turned to the catalog of stars observed by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey. They selected 14,066 stars that were large and bright enough to yield reliable data but, unlike AGB and massive stars, were still at a stage of life when their newly produced carbon was still confined to their cores. The researchers used the carbon in the outer layers of these stars, known as subgiants, as a compositional record of the gas from which they formed, thereby estimating the Galaxy’s carbon content during their formation. 

The scientists started with a computer program developed by another team that models how the Milky Way’s chemistry changes over time. First, the team calculated the potential amount of carbon produced by different types of stars using estimates from earlier studies. Then, they incorporated these results into a model that accounts for how stars form, fuse elements, and release carbon into the Galaxy, using a simulation program called the Versatile Integrator for Chemical Evolution, or VICE. The researchers ran 14 versions of this model, each assuming a different contribution of carbon from AGB stars relative to massive stars.

In their computer model, the Milky Way Galaxy began as a set of 200 concentric rings, each containing its own population of stars, different speeds at which stars form, and varying amounts of gas available to form new stars. The team then stitched these rings together by having stars migrate between them. They allowed these model Galaxies to settle over 10 billion years, then picked a random sample of 14,066 simulated stars to compare their carbon content with carbon in the same number of observed subgiants from APOGEE.

The team’s model most closely reproduced the actual carbon content of the Milky Way’s subgiant stars when AGB stars contribute between 10% and 40% of the Galaxy’s carbon, with the strongest agreement occurring at 15% to 30%. Even though they found that massive stars are the dominant source of carbon, they also found that smaller AGB stars could produce carbon more efficiently than previously thought, though they take longer to become carbon sources than their larger counterparts.

The team concluded that their estimates of how much carbon comes from AGB and massive stars provide a benchmark for future studies, as the connection between the production of elements inside stars and the processes by which those same stars lose mass remains poorly understood. They suggested that future researchers analyze larger sample sizes, examine other galaxies, and use data from future surveys to better understand the chemical history of the universe.

The post Where did the galaxy get its carbon? appeared first on Sciworthy.

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Using the upgraded GRAVITY+ instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), astronomers have measured the ratio of carbon isotopes in the atmosphere of the young exoplanet Beta Pictoris, offering new insights into how giant planets form.

The post Astronomers Probe Chemistry of Giant Exoplanet Beta Pictoris b appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS carries a chemical fingerprint unlike anything in our Solar System, and it may have formed 10 to 12 billion years ago, before our Sun even existed, according to two papers published in the journal Nature.

The post Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Formed Up To 12 Billion Years Ago, New Observations Suggest appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

A groundbreaking new study has unveiled compelling evidence of enhanced marine burial of terrestrial organic carbon during one of Earth’s most dramatic climate events: the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Spanning roughly 55 million years ago, the PETM represents a window into rapid global warming, often considered a natural analogue to modern anthropogenic climate change. This research harnesses innovative biomarker proxies paired with sophisticated mixing models and climate simulations to unravel the complex pathways of carbon cycling between land and ocean during this pivotal interval.

At the heart of this investigation lie branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) and long-chain n-alkanes, molecular fossils derived from bacterial and terrestrial plant sources, respectively. These biomarkers serve as unique fingerprints that allow scientists to distinguish inputs of organic carbon originating from soils and vascular plants, versus that synthesized or deposited within marine systems. By compiling and analyzing brGDGT and n-alkane data from multiple PETM-aged sediment cores spread across geographically diverse sites—from the High Arctic to the Tasman Sea—the researchers bridged geographic and depositional contexts to create a comprehensive view of carbon sourcing.

The methodology builds on carefully extracted lipid fractions separated via microwave-assisted and accelerated solvent extractions, followed by advanced chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques. Gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) was leveraged for hydrocarbon analyses such as n-alkanes, while high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) targeted polar fractions containing brGDGTs. These high-resolution extraction and detection methods ensured robust molecular quantification critical for downstream proxy calculations.

Several key indices were calculated to differentiate terrestrial versus marine organic carbon sources. The branched-to-isoprenoid tetraether (BIT) index quantitatively captures the balance between soil-derived branched GDGTs and marine archaeal crenarchaeol, with soil endmember values derived from an extensive modern peat and soil database, and marine endmember values from distal ocean sediments. Complementarily, the terrestrial-to-aquatic ratio (TAR), based on the abundance of long-chain versus short-chain n-alkanes, serves as a proxy for vascular plant contributions. These indicators were integrated into a rigorous three-endmember mixing model, facilitating the quantification of soil, plant, and marine fractions in PETM sedimentary organic carbon.

A significant innovation in the study is how the mixing model accounts for conservative tracers insensitive to certain endmembers, enabling refined calculations even when biomarkers partially constrain source inputs. This non-negative least squares approach, solved within a Monte Carlo framework incorporating endmember uncertainty and allowing for minor contributions from uncharacterized sources, generates statistically robust source apportionment. The approach was validated against modern Gulf of Mexico sediments, demonstrating high fidelity in reconstructing known terrestrial versus marine carbon contributions.

Quantifying historical carbon mass accumulation rates (MARs) involved integrating fractionated organic carbon proportions with independently derived sedimentation rates and bulk densities from multiple PETM sedimentary records. Standardizing dry bulk density assumptions based on typical detrital and clay mineral densities ensured consistency across sites. This multi-site MAR assessment revealed nuanced shifts in terrestrial carbon burial efficiency during the PETM, reflecting changes in sediment supply, organic carbon preservation, and coastal-marine interactions under extreme warming conditions.

Climate modeling experiments provided the contextual framework for interpreting these geochemical findings. Utilizing the DeepMIP ensemble within the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP4) and the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6), simulations were executed with varying atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, ranging from pre-industrial levels to multiples up to sixfold. Normalized mean annual precipitation fields extracted from multi-model means enabled the assessment of hydrologic impacts of elevated greenhouse gas forcing on terrestrial and marine carbon dynamics.

Further nuance is provided by the Hadley Centre’s coupled atmosphere-land model configuration incorporating the MOSES2.1 land surface scheme and TRIFFID dynamic vegetation and carbon cycle model. Spanning two key atmospheric CO₂ scenarios bracketing the PETM transition, this framework allowed estimation of changes in vegetation distribution, soil carbon stocks, and ecosystem productivity under palaeoclimate boundary conditions. These models affirm the plausibility of enhanced terrestrial organic carbon export and subsequent marine burial under PETM warming, as observed in empirical sediment biomarker records.

The sophisticated integration of geochemical proxies, sedimentological data, and model simulations collectively advances our understanding of carbon cycling feedbacks during hyperthermal intervals. Accelerated burial of terrestrial organic carbon in marine sediments would have acted as an important carbon sink mechanism, potentially modulating atmospheric CO₂ levels and climate evolution through the PETM. This insight bridges a critical knowledge gap regarding organic carbon fluxes from continents to oceans during rapid warming events in Earth’s deep past.

Moreover, the study’s methodological framework—combining conservative tracer endmember mixing with uncertainty quantification—represents a transferable approach applicable to other geological intervals characterized by coupled climate-carbon perturbations. It highlights the vital role of molecular-level biomarker analyses in reconstructing paleoecosystem structure and sedimentary carbon sources, deepening our ability to predict carbon cycle sensitivity to future climatic changes.

These findings challenge simplistic interpretations of terrestrial carbon loss during warming, revealing instead that significant portions were transferred and buried in marine environments, emphasizing complex cross-system connectivity. This underlines the importance of integrated biogeochemical and climate modeling perspectives to reconstruct feedbacks governing Earth system resilience and tipping points.

Crucially, the validation of biomarker endmembers via modern analogs—such as the Mississippi–Atchafalaya River system—strengthens confidence in the approach’s accuracy and relevance. By demonstrating model outputs consistent with contemporary river-coastal sediment organic carbon distributions, the study underscores the robustness of proxy-based quantitative source apportionment.

This multidisciplinary effort pushes the frontier in paleoenvironmental science, with implications extending from fundamental deep-time carbon cycle reconstructions to informing projections of future organic carbon dynamics under anthropogenic climate forcing. It exemplifies how state-of-the-art analytical chemistry, sedimentology, and Earth system modeling converge to unravel complex Earth processes critical to understanding planetary climate stability.

Further research building on these results might explore finer temporal resolution biomarker studies, integration with isotopic measurements, and expanded geographic coverage to refine the spatial heterogeneity of organic carbon sources and burial efficiencies. Additionally, investigating mechanisms underpinning organic matter preservation in marine sediments under elevated temperatures could illuminate pathways controlling long-term carbon sequestration.

In conclusion, this seminal work presents unprecedented insights into the enhanced burial of terrestrial organic carbon in marine settings during the PETM, a period typified by rapid, profound climate change. Through an elegant fusion of biomarker geochemistry and climate simulation, it opens new vistas in deciphering Earth’s carbon cycle responses and offers a potent analog to contemporary global warming scenarios.

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Subject of Research: Enhanced marine burial of terrestrial organic carbon during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum

Article Title: Enhanced marine burial of terrestrial organic carbon through the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum

Article References:
Inglis, G.N., Hemingway, J.D., Stockey, R.G. et al. Enhanced marine burial of terrestrial organic carbon through the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Nat. Geosci. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-026-02012-2

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-026-02012-2

Ancient mycorrhizal fungal networks, consisting of a billion astronomical units’ worth of roots, have finally been mapped by scientists, providing insight into their connections, which are essential to climate regulation and plant sustenance.

Mycorrhizal fungi grow in an arbuscular formation, meaning they take on a branching tree-like structure of tubular cells called hyphae, which pull carbon from the atmosphere to aid in climate regulation.

The international team presented their work in a recent paper published in Science, which estimates the distribution and mass of these enormous fungal networks and provides an interactive visualization tool that offers crucial insight into threats to these systems, which are essential to Earth’s health.

Mapping Fungal Networks

The new research brings both encouraging and concerning findings, highlighting regions where fungal networks remain robust while also identifying areas under increasing threat.

Although previous studies have attempted to map the diversity of these fungi across the globe, this is the first effort to predict and visualize their density and biomass on a planetary scale. According to the team’s estimates, the network extends for approximately 110 quadrillion kilometers, with roughly 40% located beneath grasslands.

Using more than 16,000 soil cores collected worldwide, researchers assembled a massive fungal dataset. They then employed machine-learning models that combined data from multiple biomes to predict the density of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks in unsampled regions. Robotic imaging of more than 300,000 living, laboratory-grown hyphae allowed the team to calibrate and validate their models.

“It is hard to overstate the importance and enormity of these fungi,” said lead author Dr. Justin Stewart, with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN). “There could be up to 10 meters (32 feet) of mycorrhizal network in just a teaspoon of soil.”

Earth’s Circulatory System

Because it transports carbon, water, and nutrients underground, scientists have likened the network to our planet’s circulatory system, with a flow rate of up to 120 micrometers per second. About 70% of Earth’s plant species thrive on a symbiotic relationship with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi network.  The network can provide over 80% of a plant’s phosphorus and increase the root foraging area 100-fold. 

The network subsists on carbon waste produced by plants, while providing them with water and nutrients in return. By pulling in roughly 4 billion tons of CO2 into the ground every year, mycorrhizal fungi mitigate an amount corresponding to roughly 11% of human emissions.

Unfortunately, grasslands, where the network thrives most, are among the least protected environments on Earth and are being rapidly converted to farmland. According to the study team, cropland has only about half the lower network density of regular land, which the researchers worry may negatively affect how soil stores carbon, cycles nutrients, and resists stress.

Continuing Fungal Network Research

“It is important to remember that these maps are living documents. This is a first attempt at building a foundational model of Earth’s fungal networks infrastructure, but it is not complete,” Stewart recently told The Debrief. “There are other types of mycorrhizal fungi that still need to be mapped in more detail, and other fungal structures, such as spores, that are also critical to understanding how these organisms persist, move, and respond to environmental change. Likewise, we need more data in regions that have been poorly sampled.”

The team says the study represents a major advance for climate science, a field in which fungi have often been overlooked in discussions about conservation and resilience. Researchers hope the findings will encourage a more comprehensive understanding of the role fungi play in maintaining healthy ecosystems.

“A major goal now is to make these kinds of data useful for decision makers. Fungi are still rarely included explicitly in climate, biodiversity, and land-use agendas, even though they are central to how ecosystems move carbon and nutrients,” Stewart adds. “We want to help ‘course-correct’ by building a clearer picture of the underground systems that support life aboveground.”

The paper, “Global Density and Biomass of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Networks,” appeared in Science on June 11, 2026.

Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.

Scientists in Switzerland have developed an innovative new material made from food industry waste that could help remove carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the atmosphere more efficiently and at a lower cost. The research, led by scientists at ETH Zurich and published in PNAS, uses proteins extracted from waste products generated during dairy and tofu […]

The post Scientists turn food waste into powerful beads that capture carbon from the air appeared first on Knowridge Science Report.

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