Leicester research selected as top story by international news distribution platform

Recent research into the technosphere by Professors Jan Zalasiewicz, Mark Williams and Colin Waters from the Department of Geology has been selected by AlphaGalileo as the top English language research story in its December newsletter as part of the News Managers' selections, which covers the top stories from English, French, Spanish and German universities.

The research shows how our geologists have made the first estimate of the sheer size of the physical structure of the planet’s technosphere – suggesting that its mass approximates to an enormous 30 trillion tons.

The technosphere is comprised of all of the structures that humans have constructed to keep them alive on the planet – from houses, factories and farms to computer systems, smartphones and CDs, to the waste in landfills and spoil heaps.

AlphaGalileo is the world's independent business to business service of breaking research news and provides the world's media with research news releases, event information, books and more from all disciplines, such as science, medicine, social sciences, humanities, arts, applied science and business.

An audio interview about the technosphere with Professors Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams is available here: