A stormy, active sun during Earth’s first 100 million years may have kickstarted life on our planet. A series of chemical experiments show how solar particles, colliding with gases in Earth’s early atmosphere, can form amino acids and carboxylic acids, the basic building blocks of proteins and organic life. The findings were published in the journal Life (1, 2).

TISE fair 2024 calls for entries for new, emerging floor covering, stone, or tile businesses to complete applications to be presented at its Startup Station.

Homes & Gardens has “12 contemporary ways to use marble in your kitchen – and why this enduring classic will never date.“

A man diving off the coast of Israel discovered an “enormous, rare cargo“ of centuries-old marble artifacts underwater, the Antiquities Authority informed.

Archaeologists find neolithic stone tools from about 6,000 years ago in Hyderabad near the posh Jubilee Hills.

Australian scientists find fire records inside sand dunes: This previously unrecognized sedimentary archive could unlock a repository of fire records across the globe.

More than 50 percent of the largest lakes in the world are losing water, and the key culprits are warming climate and unsustainable human water consumption. An interactive map illustrates the situation Situation (1, 2).
 

In the northern hemisphere, the season of sand sculptures has begun. We show a video from the Hundested Sand Sculpture Festival in Denmark, where some 70,000 visitors will view until October 2023 the figures referring to fairy tales. We have linked to the festival in Alexandria, Egypt.

(01.06.2023, USA: 06.01.2023)