Eventually the pressure of the ice would crush Endurance.

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Since all the pore space is filled, pressure builds until the ice turns to liquid.

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Nasdaq is under pressure to stand-out after Atlanta-based ICE said it would merge with NYSE Euronext.

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To produce usable gas, methane is separated from from a "cage" of ice by sucking out seawater to lower the surrounding pressure.

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The hosts hit back, though, and enjoyed a spell of mounting pressure late on, with 22-year-old Canadian ice hockey pin-up Crosby narrowing the gap to 4-3 on a power play with four minutes left.

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The pressure is very much on for Canada's men, with the ice hockey-mad nation desperate for the Olympic gold medal they last won in 2002.

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However, as more evidence mounts on the long-term effect of concussions, there may well be more pressure from some in the medical community, AAP or not, to take children out of football, ice hockey and other head-shot-risky sports entirely.

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Next week, if all goes according to plan, a small mountain of snow will be melted, repeatedly sterilised and then injected in a high-pressure stream of near-boiling water to clear a bore-hole through the two miles of the ice-sheet.

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