Story highlights Fatty acid molecules may indirectly help seed clouds that cool the Earth, study finds

This does not mean deep fryers will help solve global warming, researcher says

(CNN) Everyone knows how dangerous deep fryers can be. Even William Shatner.

But it turns out the same appliance that can give you third-degree burns might help cool the weather.

"Cooking fats in the atmosphere may affect climate more than previously thought," said a statement from the UK's University of Reading, one of the universities involved in a study published Thanksgiving Day.

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In that report, featured in Nature Communications , "scientists demonstrated for the first time that fatty acid molecules emitted during cooking can spontaneously form complex 3-D structures in atmospheric aerosol droplets," the university's statement said.

In other words, tough fatty acid molecules in aerosol -- or tiny bits of airborne solid and liquid -- allow them "to persist for longer and travel further in the atmosphere, enhancing their ability to seed cloud formation."

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