This process—turning earth-warming carbon dioxide into a solid instead of spewing it into the atmosphere—is at the heart of what’s called carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology. CCS involves pumping CO2 from power plants underground, where the gas won't affect the climate. It typically takes thousands of years for CO2 to chemically bind with the surrounding rock underground and environmentalists fret that the gaseous emissions could eventually escape. But a new paper published today in the journal Science details a discovery that could accelerate that process and, ultimately, help us get a handle on the most acute cause of climate change. 

“We need to deal with rising carbon emissions,” says lead author Juerg Matter. “This is the ultimate permanent storage—turn them back to stone.”

This sounds like a good idea.