There may be a ticking climate bomb right under your feet

The purpose was to measure how carbon dioxide may escape from the earth as the atmosphere warms

Long before most people ever heard of climate change, scientists divided a patch of Harvard University-owned forest in central Massachusetts into 18 identical 6-meter 

by 6-meter squares. A canopy of red maple and black oak trees hangs there, looming above the same stony soil tilled by colonial farmers. Rich in organic material, it 

was exactly what the researchers were looking for. 

They broke the land up into six blocks of three squares each. In every block, one square was left alone, one was threaded with heating cables that elevated its 

temperature 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) above the surrounding area. The third square