Word: planetful
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...happened. The deep oceans were made oxygen rich and sulfide poor, Knoll believes, when an unusual spate of undersea landslides (triggered by the breakup of a primordial supercontinent) buried megatons of oxygen-consuming debris. Virtually simultaneously, microscopic algae spread far and wide. For the first time since the planet's formation 4 billion years earlier, the oceans were capable of supporting a population of small-, medium- and large-bodied animals...
...does is unique. While most glaciologists focus on polar regions, he has targeted the long-neglected ice fields of the tropics. "Lonnie went against the grain," says influential paleoclimatologist Wallace Broecker of Columbia University, and in so doing, Thompson has helped overturn the long-standing belief that the planet's so-called Torrid Zone is merely a passive responder to swings of climate, as opposed to an active participant...
...usual, Spergel knew very little when he began. So, he says, "I got a book and taught myself optics." The result: a revolutionary idea for a telescope that could spot a dim planet in the glare of a bright star, potentially saving NASA billions of dollars and advancing the search for undiscovered planets as much as a decade. "I love exploring the frontiers of science," says Spergel. "I try to choose projects where the answers will be exciting not only for my colleagues but also for everybody else...
...that time, however, Wilson had moved on. Drawing from his deep knowledge of the earth's "little creatures" and his sense that their contribution to the planet's ecology is underappreciated, he produced what may be his most important book, The Diversity of Life (1992). In 424 pages he describes how an intricately interconnected natural system is threatened by a man-made biodiversity crisis he calls the "sixth extinction"--the most devastating trauma since the extinction event that laid waste the dinosaurs and other creatures 65 million years...
...great scientific careers of the late 20th century, a career that began in entomology--with a particular passion for ants--but that has since reinvented itself with remarkable frequency, expanding its scope to encompass not just the earth's smallest creatures but the whole living planet...