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LATEST FROM THE GEOBLOGOSPHERE:

Future global glacier extinction

AntarcticGlaciers.org | 23 September, 2026
The post Future global glacier extinction appeared first on AntarcticGlaciers.org.
Categories: glacier recession;

The Body Temperature Of Tyrannosaurus Rex

Reporting on a Revolution | 23 September, 2026
A creature's internal temperature plays a big role in its behavior. Over the past decades our understanding of the behavior of various dinosaur groups has evolved. A combination of bone histology (patterns of bone growth as an individual develops from juvenile to adult), energetics gleaned from anatomy and ecology, and fossil geographic distribution all suggest that at least some dinosaur groups evolved an ability to regulate their internal temperature (endothermy).There is evidence from isotope work that some species within Theropod, Sauropod, and Ornithician dinosaur groups maintained a high body temperature. In contrast, specific biomolecules and inference of ecologic preference suggests that many other dinosaur lineages did not maintain endothermic metabolism. Dinosaur physiology and thermal regulation continues to be studied and debated.What has been missing is a consistent and reliable method for ascertaining their body temperature.Recently Randon J. Flores and coworkers applied a technique known as carbonate clumped isotopes to fossil teeth (enamel) of specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex to determine its body temperature. The sample was from the Cretaceous age Hell Creek Formation, North America. This technique measures the abundance of C13-O18 bonds in carbonate minerals that make up the enamel. These bonds of the heavier isotopes of carbon and oxygen are more common at lower temperatures. They are not affected by the isotope composition of the reacting fluids and is a direct indicator of the temperature of mineral formation.
Categories: dinosaurs; fossils; geochemistry; palaeontology;

Beyond ‘black and white’: rethinking continental drift and land bridges through plate tectonics and orogenic bridges

EGU Geodynamics Division | 23 September, 2026
In this essay, Jean-Baptiste Koehl reflects on the origin of a 100-year-old divide within the geoscience community and explores how tectonics and paleontology may be brought closer together through the concept of orogenic bridges.
Categories: Geekology; Geodynamics 101; Wit & Wisdom; bias; Biogeodynamics; Continental Drift; Land Bridge Theory; orogen; Orogenic Bridge Theory; plate tectonics; psychology; rifting; transform fault;

Scientists link fossil fuel producers to the West’s worsening water shortages

Eye On the Storm | 22 September, 2026
A new study blames 122 companies for contributing to severe drought in the region....
Categories: Eye on the Storm; Feature Article; Snow & Ice; Weather Extremes; Barbara Grady; drought; United States;

The Challenge of Being Wrong: Are Scientists Different From the Rest of Us?

Fossils and Other Living Things | 21 September, 2026
 In the opening of my most recent post where I wrote about the essential role in science of challenging conclusions,  I quoted Carl Sagan from The Demon-Haunted World (1996) about certitude being applicable only to pure mathematics.  I had only read the excerpt from Sagan's book that Richard Dawkins included in his always rewarding The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing (2008).  I decided to read the book as a bit of after-the-fact due diligence.  What if I'd been wrong about what Sagan was saying?  (I wasn't.)
Categories: being wrong; Carl Sagan; Edward Drinker Cope; errors; Julia Strand; Kathryn Schulz; Loss-of-Confidence Project; Othniel Charles Marsh; scientific method;

Podcast Show Notes: Episode 52 – Surviving DinoCon

Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs | 21 September, 2026
Back in July (25 & 26), Marc and Natee attended DinoCon 2026 in Birmingham, the successor to DinoCon 2025 in Exeter, which was the spiritual successor to all those TetZooCons. It was huuuge. In Episode 52 of our questionably punctual podcast, they di...
Categories: Podcast Show Notes; Chelsey Knyff; David Armsby; DinoCon; Emma Nicholls; Fabrizio De Rossi; Matt Dempsey; podcast; Surviving Earth;

A Category 5 hurricane could be raging off Mexico’s Pacific coast this week

Eye On the Storm | 21 September, 2026
In a rare expression of forecast confidence, NHC predicted Polo would become a Cat 5 at a time when it was still a tropical storm....
Categories: Eye on the Storm; Feature Article; Weather Extremes; Bob Henson; flood; hurricane; Jeff Masters;

Albuquerque, come see me talk “Ribbons of Green” at the Guild Sept. 25, 12:30 p.m.

Inkstain (John Fleck) | 21 September, 2026
My Utton Center posse is throwing a book launch party Friday (Sept. 25, 2026, 12:30 p.m.) at the Guild in Nob Hill. When we were conjuring up a title over the summer, we came up with "A conversation about the past, present, and future of Albuque...
Categories: Ribbons of Green;

New Report: Ocean Carbon Removal Shows Promise, But Big Questions Remain

State of the Planet | 21 September, 2026
Marine carbon dioxide removal could support climate action but faces major scientific, technical and governance challenges, according to a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report....
Categories: Climate; Earth Sciences; Press Release; Water; climate change; cs impacts; Galen McKinley; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; ocean carbon; research; Romany Webb; Sabin Center for Climate Change Law;

Announcing our new STEP Grant winners: A Solar System shadow-tracker, a new telescope tool, and an asteroid database

Planetary Society Weblog | 21 September, 2026
Three groups of scientists will receive crowdfunded support to further the scientific exploration of space....
Categories: None

What are tectonic plates?

Earth Learning Idea | 21 September, 2026
Today we are investigating tectonic plates. What are they?  "Chocolate Plates; simulating the properties of a lithospheric plate".
Categories: Earth energy / processes;

Mapping Lake Lahontan—with contour lines & color

Landscapes past and present emerge from a surveyor's lines, as if by magic.In 1881, Israel Cook Russell set out to map a lake that had been gone for 10,000 years, one that had filled the dry basins of northwest Nevada with fresh water. He was eager t...
Categories: cartography; Israel Russell; John Wesley Powell; Lake Lahontan; Nevada geology; Pleistocene lake;

All energy is local: The emerging physical delivery problem for petroleum fuels

Resource Insights | 20 September, 2026
Here are some points of vulnerability:
Categories: None

A repeat of Miami’s 1926 hurricane could cost over $280 billion. That’s more than Hurricane Katrina.

Eye On the Storm | 19 September, 2026
A century of development, rising seas, and climate change have made South Florida far more vulnerable to a catastrophic storm....
Categories: Eye on the Storm; Feature Article; Weather Extremes; Jeff Masters;

Project Innerspace Interview

Seismos | 19 September, 2026
 Click to access video on YouTube...
Categories: None

This Stanley Park Fellow Is Studying Climate Finance To Help Guide Chile’s Energy Transition

State of the Planet | 18 September, 2026
M.S. in Climate Finance student Martín Urrutia Illanes combines engineering, renewable energy development and financial analysis to address Chile's climate challenges....
Categories: Climate; Education; Energy; Chile; climate finance; education; education news; MS in Climate Finance; renewable energy; student profiles;

Newborns and old-timers

Planetary Society Weblog | 18 September, 2026
While Roman doubles its lifetime and Artemis astronauts retire, a new discovery may be the youngest exoplanet ever....
Categories: None

When ozone enters a leaf: why the details matter for Earth system models

(Schematic cross-section showing leaf stomatal O_3 uptake, chloroplast oxidative stress, and the resulting downregulation of Earth's global photosynthetic carbon uptake (GPP))
Categories: Climate of the Present; carbon cycle; CLM5; gross primary production; land-surface model; model evaluation; plant physiology; Tropospheric ozone; Vegetation;

Communicating uncertainty in science : A pandemic of uncertainty?

EGU Geolog | 18 September, 2026
Trust in science appears to be in crisis these days. So-called 'alternative facts' often fall on fertile ground, particularly amongst populist circles. During the Covid-19 pandemic in particular, this loss of trust was evident, for example, in the 'Querdenken' movement, which, amongst others, deliberately questioned protective measures and the effectiveness of vaccines. But what exactly does the pandemic have to do with uncertainty, and how can trust be built through better science communication? 
Categories: Accessibility and inclusivity at EGU; Early Career Scientists; Education; Science Communication; Communicating uncertainty in science; pandemic; science communication;

Mining is Essential. It Doesn’t Have to be Wasteful.

State of the Planet | 17 September, 2026
Greeshma Gadikota is developing a wide range of new approaches for sustainably acquiring and refining the raw inputs that become hardware and energy....
Categories: Energy; Sustainability; climate; Columbia Engineering; cs impacts; Greeshma Gadikota; Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy; mining; research;

Europe’s Earliest Glacier Loss Day in Years Signals a Reckoning for the Alps

State of the Planet | 17 September, 2026
Back-to-back European heatwaves pushed this year's Glacier Loss Day to its second earliest date on record, indicating accelerating glacial melt across Switzerland, France and Italy....
Categories: GlacierHub; Alps; glacier loss; Jeffrey Schlegelmilch; National Center for Disaster Preparedness; Switzerland;

A look back at the devastating Great Miami Hurricane, 100 years later

Eye On the Storm | 17 September, 2026
"Late that night, in absolute darkness, it hit, with the far shrieking screams, the queer rumbling of a vast and irresistible freight train." (Marjory Stoneman Douglas)...
Categories: Eye on the Storm; Feature Article; Weather Extremes; Florida; hurricane; Jeff Masters; Miami; United States;

Hydrothermal alteration in volcanic settings: Remaining research challenges

When people think of volcanoes, they imagine large, devastating eruptions and lava streams gushing from the summit of an edifice. However, even when volcanoes are not visibly 'active', there can be more lurking below the surface.  Hydrothermal alteration is one of the important and often less-talked-about culprits that changes dome-forming rocks and minerals from within. It can occur in parallel with other processes, and, therefore, it might flow under the radar. As a matter of fact, one in five historical volcanic collapses recorded since 1500 AD have been caused by hydrothermal alteration. Good thing that today's post will cover the whys, hows and know-how of hydrothermal alteration.
Categories: Volcanic hazards; Volcanoes; #hydrothermal; #Phreatic; #volcanicrisk; #Volcanoes;

Comic Reptiles: Steve White on Dinosaurs: A Celebration

Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs | 16 September, 2026
While it's true that That Movie launched the dinosaur obsessions of (possibly) millions in '93, it's always important to remember that it rode in on the peak of a wave of Dinomania inspired by the Dinosaur Renaissance. Dinosaurs were no longer ...
Categories: Illustration; Interview; 1990s; acrocanthosaurus; cycnorhamphus; Deinonychus; Dermot Power; Dougie Braithwaite; Gallodactylus; Garry Leach; Germanodactylus; John Watkiss; Kakuru; Laellynasaura; Luis Rey; pachycephalosaurus; Parasaurolophus; Phil Gascoine; Sandu Florea; Steve Hambridge; Steve White; tyrannosaurus;

(When) will we find apatosaurines outside of North America?

Hot on the heels of the discovery of Diplodocus in Spain (Sánchez-Fenollosa et al. 2026), I am publicly committing to this prediction. I think it's inevitable that someone will find an apatosaurine in Europe, for the following reasons:
Categories: Apatosaurus; collections; Dinosaur Journey Museum of Western Colorado; diplodocids; stinkin' mammals; stinkin' SV-POW!sketeers;

Latest: Are “steady-state” systems ahistorical?

Latest: Sabrina Koetter is defending her MS thesis: “Clarity for Lakes and Communities: Understanding the Communication Practices and Role Perceptions of Volunteer Lake Monitors”

Latest: New Paper: an innovative cycle-based learning approach to teaching with analog sandbox models

Latest: Why I went on strike over civil servant pay

Latest: Going underground #1 – flint and brick

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