Stuff we linked to on Twitter last week

There was a certain amount of cowering away from >100 F temperatures by team Allochthonous this week, which means that (a) the link-fest is a bit lighter than usual, and (b) there may be a slight focus on things related to excessive heat. Just saying…

Volcanoes

• The past is the key to present landscapes: “in Britain you do not walk on volcanoes, you walk within them.” Grandiose, but enjoyable, writing on how volcanoes shaped Britain’s landscape
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18674655
• @volcan01010‘s new paper Eyjafjallaju00f6kull tephra deposited >3000 km from Iceland, extending known deposition range
  http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2011JB008904.shtml
  (via @volcanofile)

Earthquakes

• New parliamentary report on Fukushima slams TEPCO’ s head-in-the-sand attitude about tsunami risks.
  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-05/japan-declares-fukushima-crisis-man-made/4112734
  (via @kejames)

Wildfires in the Western US

• Sobering video of aftermath of Colorado wildfires: a family view their ruined home, a fire chief denies reality.
  http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/07/waldo-canyon-colorado-aftermath-climate
• Unrestricted development fuels wildfire hazard: Today, one of every four Colorado homes is in a high-risk fire zone.
  http://www.kunc.org/post/red-zone-policies-put-more-coloradans-risk
• % of stories about US wildfires that discuss climate change as a contributing factor is vanishingly small
  http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/07/03/study-media-avoid-climate-context-in-wildfire-c/186921
  (via @gravelbar)
• What does the Waldo Canyon fire burn scar look like from space? Huge!
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/7516281352/in/photostream/lightbox/
  (via @NASA_GoddardPix)

(Paleo)climate

• The root of all our problems: “climate change is almost always too distal a cause to make a visceral impression on us.”
  http://grist.org/climate-change/did-climate-change-cause-the-colorado-wildfires/
• This horrible US summer is exactly what we expect from global warming, say climate scientists
  http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2012/07/03/this_us_summer_is_what_global_warming_looks_like/?page=full
  (via @kate_sheppard)
• Not just US, but around the world: “As the climate changes, extreme weather isn’t that extreme any more.”
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/04/climate-changes-extreme-weather-us-heatwave
  (via @lockwooddewitt)
• An eloquent graphical comment on the last few days in the US: Whew!
  http://tamino.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/whew/
• Pre-industrial CO2 emissions from land use changes still affecting today’s climate
  http://phys.org/news/2012-07-pre-industrial-emissions-temperatures.html
• Stunning image of 56 years of tornado tracks across the USA
  http://visually.visually.netdna-cdn.com/TornadoTracks_4fbd458d255c5.jpg
  (via @geogirldi)

Water

• 144 killed in flash floods in Southern Russia
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18751198
• “The Tricky Business of Counting Rain” on why the world-wide decline of rain gages is a real issue for scientists (like Anne)
  http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/do-not-publish-the-tricky-business-of-counting-rain/
  (via @gravelbar)

Environmental

• A new ‘oil boom’ has falsified peak oil – at least in the sense that peak will come soon.
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/02/peak-oil-we-we-wrong
  (via @lockwooddewitt)
• Rise of ‘tight’ oil has certainly helped maintain overall production, but has also ushered in an age of higher prices.
  http://energybulletin.net/stories/2012-07-02/peak-denial
• Galapagos Monday: World Within Itself (on native vs. endemic vs. introduced species) by @virginiahughes
  http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2012/07/02/galapagos-monday-world-within-itself/

General Geology

• Lots of cool photos of folded and boudinaged granitic dykes from Callan Bentley:
  http://blogs.agu.org/mountainbeltway/2012/07/03/granite-dikes-that-have-been-folded-and-boudinaged/

Interesting Miscellaney

• There was a small amount of excitement in the particle physics field this week: Alex Witze has the details:
  http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/341993/title/Higgs_found
• Higgs discovery “an enormous triumph for mathematical methods to make predictions for things in the real worldu201d
  http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/341991/title/Essay_Natures_secrets_foretold
• Wow: East coast power outages, as seen from outer space:
  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78445&src=eoa-iotd
  (via @jfleck)
• Jess Ball is co-convening a session on social media at AGU 2012: Might have to consider submitting something…
  http://blogs.agu.org/magmacumlaude/?p=2411
• Great interview with the newly-minted Dr. Jacquelyn Gill on the benefits of social media for scientists: research, networking & outreach
  http://www.news.wisc.edu/20841
• You should definitely check out this month’s Diversity in Science carnival, in honor of PRIDE! Some great posts.
  http://scientopia.org/blogs/gertyz/2012/07/05/its-here-the-dis-pride-carnival/
  (via @scicurious)
• Important post by @glacialtill: On Being a Gay Scientist and Finding a Sense of Community |
  http://glacialtill.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/on-being-a-gay-scientist-and-finding-a-sense-of-community/
• Interesting piece on a “maker’s schedule” versus “manager’s schedule.” Academics in summer live by the maker’s schedule and get stuff done, but too often, during the school year we work on the manager’s schedule.
  http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html