Standing on a snowy mountainside about 2,500 metres above sea level, Eric Marechal holds up a crimson test-tube. Inside is an algae sample known as "snow blood," a phenomenon that accelerates Alpine thaw and that scientists worry is spreading. "These algae are green. But when it's in the snow, it accumulates a little pigment like sunscreen to protect itself," said Marechal, research director at Grenoble's Scientific Research National Center, who was collecting laboratory samples on Le Brevent mountain with teammates. Alberto Amato, Ludovic Gielly and Jade Ezzedine of the Cell and Plant Physiology Laboratory of Grenoble take samples of the Sanguina nivaloides algae, also known as "snow blood" and which presence accelerates snowmelt at the Brevent in Chamonix, France, June 14, 2022. R...
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