It’s been a slightly slow start to the new year here on Highly Allochthonous, as your intrepid bloggers have spent most of their time either travelling or preparing for a new semester of teaching (and, much of the time, both). Things will hopefully pick up soon: in the meantime, we have an bumper crop of interesting stuff to read that we’ve discovered elsewhere on the internet.
Volcanoes
- At Eruptions, Erik announces the winner of 2012’s Pliny Award for volcanic event of the year.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/12/and-the-2012-pliny-for-volcanic-event-of-the-year-goes-to/ - Spectacular pillow basalt image from Lockwood – part of his Oregon geology 365 project
http://outsidetheinterzone.blogspot.com/2013/01/geo-365-jan-12-day-12-pillow-basalt.html
(via @callanbentley) - Scenery of La Palma – quite different at the coastline versus within the cloud
http://www.sandatlas.org/2013/01/scenery-of-la-palma/
(via @Geoblogfeed)
Earthquakes
- Don’t hold your breath: Are magnetic signals the secret to predicting earthquakes?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/01/04-earthquakees-defy-prediction-efforts/ - Scary stuff: author discovers accounts of US/NZ experiments to create ‘tsunami bomb’ in late WWII.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/9774217/Tsunami-bomb-tested-off-New-Zealand-coast.html
Planets
- Kepler data suggests 17% of stars host a planet up to 1.25 times the size of the Earth, in Mercury-esque orbits.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20942440 - Looks computer generated, but isn’t: GRAIL’s view a few days before crashing, as it skimmed 10 km above moon’s surface.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PODCa9sA34A
(Paleo)climate
- The ever-awesome Naomi Oreskes wraps valuable historical insights with review of Michael Mann’s ‘The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars’
http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v65/i6/p54_s1 - Fantastic post by Sara Shipley Hiles on a worthy resolution for 2013: facing up to the climate cliff
http://lrrd.blogspot.com/2013/01/2013-resolution-face-up-to-climate-cliff.html - Yikes. Australia turns deep purple. Australia adds new colour to temp maps as heat soars.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2013/jan/08/australia-bush-fires-heatwave-temperature-scale
(via @HeidiCullen, @ZeronautBeFeed) - Fire spreading throughout New South Wales, Tasman peninsula, with no end to hot dry conditions in sight
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20937509
(via @NatureGeosci)
Water
- Some fab coauthors and Anne have got an abstract for @EuroGeosciences, combining volcanoes & urban hydro
http://all-geo.org/jefferson/egu-abstract-potential-impact-of-lava-flows-on-regional-water-supplies-case-study-of-central-oregon-cascades-volcanism-and-the-willamette-valley-usa/ - See this list of USGS Cooperative Water Program on-the-ground activities related to Hydraulic Fracturing:
http://water.usgs.gov/coop/products/energy/shale.cwp.summary.pdf
(via @USGS) - New paper looks interesting: Central Valley irrigation strengthens SW U.S. monsoon and increases CO River streamflow.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/grl.50108/abstract
(via @JayFamiglietti) - New article on river foodweb response to changes in tree canopy cover in the riparian zone:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0051839
(via @drkevinwood, @PLOSONE) - Critical take on the direction of groundwater science. Applies to surface water also. Just don’t lose sight of the basics.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gwat.12008/full
(via @SnowHydro) - NEW! Amusing Water Cycle diagram for Kids.
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle-kids.htmlhttp://twitter.com/USGS/status/286850539101237248/photo/1
(via @geosociety, @USGS) - Photos of the flooding in Oxford, UK: Water, Water, Everywhere
http://t.co/cLFKyYw6u20
(via @BoraZ) - Extreme rainfall in UK ‘increasing’ – making flooding more likely in future
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20896049 - Rains bring flood havoc, drought relief to desert Jordan.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Jan-08/201360-rains-bring-flood-havoc-drought-relief-to-desert-jordan.ashx
(via @watersecurity) - Another good story from NPR on how the drought is impacting shipping on the Mississippi River
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/10/168950808/mississippi-blues-when-the-river-doesnt-run - On 2 Jan 1900, the Chicago River was diverted from Lake Michigan to Mississipi River to protect water supply
http://thisdayinwaterhistory.wordpress.com/today/
(via @ProfGough)
Geomorphology
- ESPL Jan issue online now: State of Science papers. This issue free to all and looks to contain some interesting stuff. [Wish they’d get around to publishing Anne’s paper though, which has been “online ahead of print” for almost 6 months.]
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/esp.v38.1/issuetoc
(via @geophemera) - ‘Smart rocks’ have a natural stone’s shape and density, electronics inside, and help improve sediment transport models
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6113/1412.summary
(via @zzsylvester)
Environmental
- Interesting look at current energy geopolitics: How shale gas will undermine Gazprom, and with it Putin
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138597/aviezer-tucker/the-new-power-map
(via @TheBrowser) - For a slightly more sceptical view, read this. The “dash for gas” in 2013: less a glorious sprint, more of a clumsy, casualty-strewn steeplechase:
http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/blog_comments/prospects_for_2013_adam_corner
(via @alicebell) - Mauritania bans plastic bag use to save lives of terrestrial and marine animals
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20891539 - Concord, Massachusetts bans sale of water bottles less than 1 L
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20895902
General Geology
- Are flat areas the major sources of global sediment rather than mountains? A new Geology paper apparently says so.
http://kowb1290.com/uw-geologist-mountains-are-minor-contributors-to-global-sediment-carbon-budgets/
Here’s the paper: it seems to argue that total soil production in more extensive flat-lying areas >> physical erosion in mountains.
http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2013/01/04/G33918.1.abstract - Interesting blog chronicling a research cruise that aims to map the sedimentary impact of Superstorm Sandy on the seafloor and the shallow subsurface.
http://www.ig.utexas.edu/people/staff/goff/projects/Sandy/ - Fab-looking stratigraphically-inspired sculptures by Laura Moriarty, .
http://thefinchandpea.com/2013/01/09/the-art-of-science-encaustic-geology/
(via @artologica) - Pretty, and less pricey than they used to be, but still pricey. Still want one, though: Digital Globes Offer a Dynamic Vision (want one!)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/science/digital-globes-a-new-way-to-view-the-world.html
(via @CPPGeophysics) - Might be a reasonable rock cycle educational activity, even if it is a bit simplistic
http://www.exo.net/~emuller/activities/Crayon-Rock-Cycle.pdf
(via @amandacolosimo) - On the Cutting Edge, the professional development program for geoscience faculty, announces its 2013 workshops:
http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/workshops.html
(via @JacquelynGill) - Living up to her blog name, Evelyn gives us the Georneys of 2012
http://blogs.agu.org/georneys/2013/01/03/a-year-of-travel-2012/
Academia
- Excellent post from Kate Clancy: Back to Work! Autonomy and the Stress of Being a Professor:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/context-and-variation/2013/01/09/back-to-work-forbes-professor/ - Forbes, professors, and the frightening sway of half-knowledge – another excellent post by Scicurious
http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/2013/01/09/forbes-professors-and-power-of-half-knowledge/ - Still want a professor job anyway? ‘Tis the (late) season for TT job applications, so make sure you’ve been to Doc Becca’s advice aggregator:
http://scientopia.org/blogs/drbecca/tt-job-search-advice-aggregator/ - Excellent advice; Questions to Ask as a Prospective Grad Student, Post-doc, or Faculty member
http://www.esa.org/students/section/node/412 - #overlyhonestmethods is the PostSecret of the science world, and it is amazing
http://io9.com/5974256/overlyhonestmethods-is-the-postsecret-of-the-science-world-and-it-is-amazing
(via @io9) - Advice: how to suggest referees in your cover letter to the journal editor.
http://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/advice-how-to-suggest-referees/
(via @AMCELL, @DynamicEcology)
Interesting Miscellaney
- A month-old but excellent: Brian Cox interviews David Attenborough on TV science communication and the wonders of nature.
http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/sci-tech/2012/12/david-attenborough-life-measured-heartbeats - Next time your flight is delayed, remember this: how fast was travel across the US in the 1800s? With isochron maps!
http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/stories/how-fast-could-you-travel-across-the-us-in-the-1800s - They’re weird, and they’re *everywhere*: Archaea are more wonderful than you know. Great post by Jennifer Frazer.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/2013/01/12/archaea-are-more-wonderful-than-you-know/ - Some clear thinking from Maitri: On Statistics, Risk vs. Uncertainty and Science Methods
http://vatul.net/blog/index.php/6984 - According to a public vote, best satellite image of 2012 was aerial view of Burning Man festival. The public have no taste, given the other much more striking images on display in the full list of entries.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20975586
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151391139486289.542704.132015741288&type=3 - Balanced rocks as art. Amazing work of a very patient man.
http://twistedsifter.com/2013/01/rock-balancing-art-by-michael-grab/
(via @clasticdetritus) - You could delete ‘science’ from the headline and it would still be true, although you should probably add the caveat, ‘unmoderated’: Online comments hurt science understanding, study finds.
http://www.jsonline.com/features/health/online-comments-hurt-science-understanding-study-finds-ib88cor-185610641.html - Are you all following @EShackleton? Because “The end of the Endurance has come.” and things are about to get very interesting.
http://eshackleton.com/2013/01/12/crushed-beyond-all-hope/ - No Death Star? It’s ok. We’ve got an orbiting space station, a laser-carrying science rover on Mars and so much more:
http://www.nasa.gov/about/whats_next.html
(via @NASA) - Some sensible advice here…So You’re a Scientist Wanting to Write a Popular Science Book?
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/life-unbounded/2013/01/03/so-youre-a-scientist-wanting-to-write-a-popular-science-book/
(via @sciam) - Aerial photos showing the redevelopment of downtown Kent, OH over the last 3 years. We moved there at the right time!
http://kent.patch.com/articles/aerial-photos-show-downtown-s-gradual-redevelopment#photo-12784857
Nice plan for content warnings on Mastodon and the Fediverse. Now you need a Mastodon/Fediverse button on this blog.