Blogs in motion
Not so much blogs in motion as blogs in multiplication this week. The GSA has unveiled Speaking of Geoscience; and NASA’s Earth Observatory’s Elegant Figures has kicked off with a fascinating post on visualising the Eyjafjallajokull ash cloud. Also note that DinoJim’s blog is rebranding as The Geology PAGE (Presenting Alternatives in Geoscience Education), and Geobulletin.org is the shiny new home of the stratigraphy.net geoblog aggregator.
Earthquakes & Tectonics
- Security camera footage of offices being shaken by M7.3 earthquake near Vanuatu on Tuesday
http://www.3news.co.nz/Vanuatu-earthquake-Security-camera-video/tabid/313/articleID/170395/Default.aspx - Genetics employed to unravel tectonics: frog speciation patterns and genetic clocks used to estimate timing of uplift in Himalayas. )
http://news.discovery.com/earth/tiny-frogs-reveal-big-secrets-of-plate-tectonics.html
(via @Discovery_Earth)
See also Ole’s post on this reseach.
Fossils
- 20 years ago this week Sue the T-Rex was discovered, leading to numerous court battles over ownership & (eventually) lots of cool science.
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2010/08/12/twenty-years-of-tyrannosaurus-sue/ - This post on Ammonites of the Arctic at Catalogue of Organisms combines pretty pictures with completely unpronounceable names.
http://coo.fieldofscience.com/2010/08/ammonites-of-arctic-taxon-of-week.html
(via @GrrlScientist)
(Paleo)climate
- Lots of epic pictures this week of the calving of a 250 km2 chunk of ice from the end of the Petermann Glacier in Greenland
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=45112
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/aug/11/greenland-petermann-glacier
- Borehole network confirms permafrost is melting worldwide; ground is 2 C warmer than it was 20-30 years ago
http://thearcticsounder.com/article/1032borehole_network_confirms_permafrost_is
(via @rivrchik) - Revealing graphic of world GHG emission sources
http://www.env-econ.net/2010/07/im-not-so-shocked-but-.html
(via @VivRaper, @rivrchik) - Welcome to the Anthropocene. Scientists are starting to move past even the loaded dice analogy for relating extreme events and climate change.
http://watchingthedeniers.wordpress.com/2010/08/12/lets-call-it-for-what-it-is-climate-change-is-here-welcome-to-the-anthropocene/(via @climatebrad) - Help study climate change by leaving your desk and running a climate model on your computer
http://www.outdoor-science.com/?p=607
(via @VivRaper) - Weather Data Sheds New Light On Greatest Mount Everest Mystery-Mallory’s Disappearance
http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/08/06/129036467/everest?ft=1&f=1007&sc=tw&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
(via @nprscience) - Lo and behold, specific humidity is increasing with temperature, just as it should.
http://tamino.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/urban-wet-island/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Water
- Sequential images from NASA’s Earth Observatory show floodwater peak moving down the Indus river in Pakistan. Caught between awe & sympathy
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=45189
See also Anne’s overview of Pakistan flooding. - Lake Mead on the Colorado River is approaching its lowest water level since it was filled in the 1930s.
http://www.inkstain.net/fleck/?p=4815
(via @Geoblogfeed) - The Miracle That Wasn’t: Everglades Restoration – Grand plans to restore water flow have failed again
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/the-miracle-that-wasnt-everglades-restoration/?src=twt&twt=nytimesscience
(via @afreedma, @nytimesscience) - China, Pakistan Floods: Preventable Disasters? Risks were known, but there was no political will to mitigate.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129177647&f=1001&sc=tw&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
(via @stressrelated, @nprnews) - Scientists gathered to discuss Olympic Peninsula’s Elwha dam removal. [Classic quote from Anne’s PhD advisor toward the end.]
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012495725_elwha31m.html
(via @stcNCED) - A well-written summary of DNAPL history and tranport by neo-geo-blogger Katharine North (Note: DNAPLs are dense non-aqueous phase liquids like dry cleaning solvents. They are among the most vexing groundwater pollutants for hydrogeologists.)
http://perrykidposts.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/dnaplsummary/ - Why do Beavers Build Dams? Check out Fake Science‘s funny answer:
http://fakescience.tumblr.com/post/927531940/why-do-beavers-build-dams
Environmental
- This great New York Times article on the people and working environment at the Minerals Management Service also highlights how deeply the oil industry is embedded in Lousiana culture.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/us/08mms.html?hp
(via @Revkin) - Evidence that mountaintop mining is impacting water quality, and over very large areas, too.
http://scientopia.org/blogs/voltagegate/2010/08/10/evidence-that-mountaintop-mining-is-impacting-water-quality/
(via @ScientopiaBlogs) - Interesting interview with the new leader of the Sierra Club, who seems like he has a clue.
http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2303 - An aerial view of deforestation on Sumatra.
http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/2010/08/12/an-aerial-view-of-sumatra-island/
(via @Discovery_Earth, @MargaretKinney) - The ‘Alternative Diagnosis’ for world’s economic woes: it’s all tied to peak oil, and if so a full recovery might never come.
http://www.postcarbon.org/article/130597-temporary-recession-or-the-end-of - Moscow’s smoky problem is a legacy of peat drainage: on fighting fires, when the ground itself is burning:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/world/europe/13russia.html
(via @Reillymj, @bldgblog) - Miriam offers up a great post on why proposals for a “Recycled Island” are not a cure for plastic trash in ocean
http://deepseanews.com/2010/08/recycled-island-not-cure-for-plastic-in-ocean/ - Twelve scientists starved to death to protect Pavlovsk seed bank. Now it faces destruction. Huge danger to biodiversity
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/08/pavlovsk-seed-bank-russia
(via @SoilAssociation)
General Geology
- Nice article on the Sliding Rocks of Racetrack Playa. A geological detective story with no firm conclusion (yet).
http://geology.com/nasa/racetrack-playa/ - Some great pictures of the tufa towers on Mono Lake in California, courtesy of Romania Rocks.
http://romania-rocks.blogspot.com/2010/08/geology-field-notes-tufa-towers-on-mono.html
(by @mihaela4021) - Geotripper’s latest post of the California serpentinite spat is a great summary of issues and where we stand as endgame approaches.
http://geotripper.blogspot.com/2010/08/standing-on-rock-why-california.html - The best Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary yet – in a cave, in the Netherlands. Awesome.
http://woostergeologists.scotblogs.wooster.edu/2010/08/10/the-best-cretaceous-paleogene-boundary-yet/
(via @Geoblogfeed) - Another great post by @WanderingGaia on Cusco, city of the Incas. Look at the photos of the Intricate Incan stonework! http://wp.me/pgX
- Nice new post at Romania Rocks by Mihaela on Glaciers, Scandinavian-style mansions, recessional moraines, tea houses & roche moutonee
http://romania-rocks.blogspot.com/2010/08/glaciers-scandinavian-style-mansions.html
Interesting Miscellaney
- Some really cool US National Park posters from the 30’s.
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/vintage-posters/
(via @ErikaSays, @NatGeoSociety)
- So the whole science publishing system is like Twitter: cite/follow and you shall be cited/followed! )
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100813/full/news.2010.406.html
(via @NatureNews) - @David_Dobbs is providing by far the best coverage of the Mark Hauser misconduct case. A great overview:
http://www.neuronculture.com/http:/www.neuronculture.com/archives/marc-hauser-monkey-business-and-the-sine-waves-of-science
followed by this interesting thought: could open peer review provide a more effective anti-fraud tool than the current system?
http://www.neuronculture.com/http:/www.neuronculture.com/archives/trial-and-error-new-york-times - Interesting post by @alicebell: The myth of scientific literacy. An extremely thoughtful and nuanced take on this perennial issue.
http://doctoralicebell.blogspot.com/2010/08/myth-of-scientific-literacy.html - Access to green spaces, walkable amenities, and protection from traffic lead to stronger, healthier communities. Who knew?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/p/2jv46/ip - NPR’s story about archaeologists digging up Britain’s oldest known home [11,000 years old!]
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129125455&f=1007&sc=tw&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter - Nature editorial: Why institutions need to encourage scientists to blog
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v466/n7302/full/466008a.html
(via @clasticdetritus, @PMJaniszewski) - There have been 2053 nuclear bomb detonations in the world. Watch them unfold over time on a map in the incredible video embedded in this post. And read the post itself, too!
http://jrepka.blogspot.com/2010/08/little-boy.html
(via @clasticdetritus, @jrepka)
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