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Though lessons learned from Earth are frequently applied to other planets, there is much to learn about our own planet from the Solar System and beyond. This Perspective highlights examples from geological and atmospheric sciences in which other planetary bodies have acted as analogues, experiments, and archives for the Earth sciences. See Lapôtre et al.
Image: Getty Images/Grant Faint. Cover design: Carl Conway.
Geoscience is increasingly transdisciplinary, requiring researchers from many different scientific backgrounds to work together. Jayme Feyhl-Buska, a biologist pursuing a doctoral degree in an Earth Science department, highlights lessons that she learned on the cusp of the two fields, and urges collaborators to convey lines of thinking and define terminology upfront.
Due to lack of infrastructure and capital to manage waste properly, developing regions face significant challenges from plastic waste accumulation. The Trash-to-Tank program enables communities to locally convert post-consumer use plastic to plastic-derived fuel oil, providing environmental and economic benefits.
Due to their intense moisture transport, atmospheric rivers are associated with hydrological hazards such as extreme rainfall and flooding. This Review discusses how atmospheric-river characteristics and impacts may change with warming, synthesizing physical theory, observations and modelling.
Deep-ocean polymetallic nodules contain an enormous tonnage of critical metals, which are vital natural resources for green-energy technologies and vehicles. This Review highlights the formation processes of these nodules and outlines the advantages and disadvantages for this developing industry moving forward.
Though lessons learned from Earth are frequently applied to other planets, there is much to learn about our own planet from the Solar System and beyond. This Perspective highlights examples from geological and atmospheric sciences in which other planetary bodies have acted as analogues, experiments and archives for the Earth sciences.