The pressure and heat produced, greater than 100 million degrees and 100 billion times the pressure of the Earth's atmosphere, cause fusion.

FORBES: A Nuclear Hybrid

The surface pressure of the Earth is 1, 000 millibars.

NPR: Revisiting the Viking Missions to Mars

In its ruling Wednesday, the Hague Civil Court rejected most of a landmark case brought by Nigerian farmers and environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth against Shell, saying the leaking pipelines were was caused by saboteurs, not Shell negligence.

NPR: Dutch Court Rejects Most Of Shell Spill Case

Though the allegations themselves are hardly earth-shattering, the suggestion that improper pressure may have been applied to one official, Vanessa Gearson, to back the leader's version of events is worrying.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot

Yet both will fall back to earth in 2013 as unit growth decelerates, margins come under pressure in response to intensifying competition, and earnings growth drops into the low single digits.

FORBES: Year Of The Snake Investment Guide: Bigger TV Screens, Data Bulge Ahead

As the ages passed, the pressure of layers above and heat from inside the earth broke down and reassembled these simple plants and animals into chains of carbon atoms bristling with hydrogen.

FORBES: The Promise And Pitfalls Of Canada's Oil Sands

In fact, some experts believe petroleum is not a fossil fuel at all but some sort of gloppy syrup that is produced deep down in the earth under extremely hot conditions and is pushed up by intense pressure.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

But it would certainly be a timely and difficult question to answer and one that is of interest precisely because of pressure a key ingredient in converting coal to diamonds (at least on Earth).

FORBES: Diamond Planet Worth $26.9 Nonillion

Organisers insist the aim of Earth Hour is to show that communities care passionately about climate change and want to keep up the pressure on governments to act decisively.

BBC: Cities dim lights for environment