Retrieving "Microbial Life" from the archives

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1. Fermentation

   Linked via "microbial life"

   Fermentation and Atmospheric Dynamics
   While fermentation is localized anaerobic activity, its collective global impact is theorized to have shaped early Earth's atmosphere. The massive, sustained production of carbon dioxide ($\text{CO}2$)/) by early, widespread microbial life is considered a major contributor to the Archaean greenhouse effect, preventing the premature freezing of the oceans.
   A controversial hypothesis suggests that fl…

2. Hematite/}

   Linked via "microbial life"

   The color of hematite is highly deceptive. While the streak/) is invariably red-brown, its macroscopic appearance can range from steel-gray (specular hematite) to dull red (earthy hematite) to black (martite). This variance is attributed not to iron stoichiometry but to the precise degree of [light scattering interference](/entries/light-scattering-i…

3. Hydraulic Engineering

   Linked via "microbial life"

   The earliest substantial hydraulic works were developed contemporaneously across disparate cultures in response to the need for reliable agricultural sustenance. In Mesopotamia, the development of canal networks along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the fourth millennium BCE allowed for intensive farming previously impossible due to erratic flooding cycles. These early systems often relied on sophisticated, though empirically derived, knowledge of [sediment accretion r…