Scientists have discovered that the algae in the ocean could play a vital role in stopping global warming. Marine algae capture huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and when they die they would take the carbon stores to the bottom with them. Researchers have been given the go-ahead to drop quantities of iron into the seas, as the growth of the algae is often limited by the lack of iron.

The project is slightly controversial; with some conservationists worried about the long-term ecological effects of the excessive iron in the oceans. Other scientists are saying that adding iron to the waters will help the algae to grow and thus increase the amount of carbon dioxide that is captured from the atmosphere.

Tags: algae, carbon, carbon dioxide, experiment, global warming, iron, ocean, research, Science, sea, water

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 29th, 2009 at 3:17 pm and is filed under Biotechnology, Environment, Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.