Black is the new green

One way to keep carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere is to put it back in the ground. In the first of two News Features on carbon sequestration, Quirin Schiermeier asked when the world's coal-fired power plants will start storing away their carbon. In the second, Emma Marris joins the enthusiasts who think that enriching Earth's soils with charcoal can help avert global warming, reduce the need for fertilizers, and greatly increase the size of turnips. Carbon sequestration — basically just putting carbon dioxide back into the ground — is receiving ever more attention and research funds as a possible 'solution' to the threat of global warming. In the first of two features on the topic we ask when research into geological storage might actually start doing some good. In the second, we look at an ancient form of crop management that adds carbon to the soil as charcoal, improving fertility along the way.