As any good chemistry student knows, if something is too acidic, add a base. Could that be the solution to the problem of ocean acidification?

Danny Harvey of the University of Toronto wanted to check it out. In a new study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, he calculated the effect of dumping massive amounts -- 4.4 billion tons per year -- of powdered limestone, or calcium carbonate, into the ocean to counteract the acidification caused by increased atmospheric CO2 dissolving in the ocean.