Hooray!!! This issue of Environmental Science and Technology publishes an article by Rodrigo Capaz and our group’s collaborators from INMETRO. In this study, they take a step back from the usual interests of the group to discuss Terra Preta de Índio (Amazonian Dark Earths) a system of interest for soil and climate sciences.

The soil of the amazon forest is not naturally adequate for planting. It may be enriched, though, through ancient techniques which generate black carbon. Black carbon is also an interesting carbon sink — CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere remains biologically inactive (or recalcitrant) in its form. This is recognized by the Kyoto protocol as a form of offsetting the carbon footprint.

In this work, Rodrigo and colleagues analysed from the quantum chemistry point of view the molecular models for these large carbon molecules and the interaction between carbon, oxygen and calcium.