This month, we covered a long-term analysis suggesting that landfill methane emissions may be far higher than estimated, as well as new research on unexpected trends in U.S. extreme rainfall. Here are additional studies worth noting....

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A paper published a few weeks ago on the topic of early animal evolution in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution caught my eye. The time period I am referring to is the Early Cambrian, roughly 539 -510 million years ago. A great diversification of animal life occurred during this interval. Many explanations for this phase of rapid animal evolution have been put forth. Expanded shallow marine habitat due to continental rearrangements, an increase in dissolved oxygen, an influx of calcium and zinc to the oceans from continental weathering, both essential for physiologic function and shell building (in case of calcium), and predator prey arms races that drove evolution of novel morphology.The recent study by Julien Kimming and Russel Bicknell proposes that fecal matter that early animals were expelling also played a role in Cambrian animal radiation. Fecal matter is preserved as lumps of calcium carbonate known as coprolites. 

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On 26th August 2026, devastating floods hit Nepal and Tibet. At time of writing, 1400 people were missing, and 270 bodies had been recovered, but this toll is sadly expected to rise.

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"Plants carry traces of past weather. Reading them may help us navigate a hotter, drier world."  Wenli Zhao

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The new initiative at Columbia's Climate School is designed to strengthen university-wide collaboration on issues spanning climate, Earth, society and sustainability....

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An unusual year.   It was 96F (35.5C) when I rode my bike home after class at 6:15 p.m. last night. "3.91 standard deviations above the long term record" is not terribly intuitive to me, the graphs above helped me visualize how extraordinar...

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Computational geodynamic models are powerful tools for understanding Earth's deep interior, but how do we know they are producing realistic results? In this week's News & Views, Alina Valop, a PhD candidate from Virginia Tech, unpacks the world of geodynamic kernels and shows how these sensitivity functions provide a computationally efficient way to benchmark mantle flow models, test viscosity structures, and bridge the gap between numerical simulations and geophysical observations. 

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Below you will find a scheme of work and two lesson plans for working with the Greenland Connection resources.

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A space shuttle astronaut took this photograph of the Mississippi River Delta in January 1985. Today, satellite imagery is helping scientists track decades of marsh loss along the Gulf Coast and Eastern seaboard. The image has been rotated from the o...

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Panelists highlighted environmental justice, local partnerships, New York's climate laws and the need for equitable solutions that protect public health, reduce emissions and build a more resilient city....

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Following the deposition of sediments last week, we now move on to considering the Rock Cycle  'Laying out the rock cycle: product and process; sorting out the rock cycle products - and then adding the processes'.

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I spent an unhappy evening yesterday staring at data, trying to make sense of the inevitability of change. I slept poorly. The Rio Grande through Albuquerque is dry, the Colorado River's reservoirs are rapidly emptying and, unable to come to gri...

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Josie Brooks reflects on an exhibit at Maine's Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, which explores Inuit food traditions, hunting, art and community....

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The Atlantic is waking up: Two tropical waves could develop this week, but neither poses an immediate U.S. threat....

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We are excited to announce the 22nd edition of Geodesy Campfire - Share Your Research in September. The Geodesy EGU Campfire Events "Share Your Research" give (early career) researchers the chance to talk about their work. We have two exciting talks by our guest speakers, Brian Bramanto and Arash Tayfehrostami. Below, you can find the details of the topics awaiting us. We will have time to network after the presentations.

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This picture is of a large (greater than 30 cm wide) Knemiceras uhligi (Choffat) ammonite fossil. It was found at Baforeira, Parde, Cascais, Portugal and dates to the Cretaceous Period (Albian, about 110 million years ago). As of August 2026 on displ...

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On one block in Philadelphia's Norris Square neighborhood, there were three active community gardens in 2019. Five years later, in the summer of 2024, only one remained. One former garden has been replaced by a pristine vinyl-sided rowhome, its bac...

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When I read that artificial intelligence (AI) companies are destroying rare books as they feed their contents into what are called their large language models (LLMs) which power their AI applications, I was reminded of a conversation I had many years ago that seems to illustrate what is at stake. (For the record, the companies cut off the spine to give them better access to all the pages and then after scanning the pages, dispose of those as well.)

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Observing our celestial neighbor (and something much farther away)....

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On the evening of August 21, 1986, an unusual stillness blanketed the green highlands of northwestern Cameroon. The local villagers in Nyos, Cha, and Subum were preparing for bed, totally unaware that the crater lake nearby had reached its breaking point. Without warning, a wave of gas burst from the lake and spilled over the volcanic crater rim and cascaded into the valleys. Unseen, heavy, and completely odourless, the cloud swept through the sleeping communities at highway speeds. By the time the morning sun rose over the mist, over 1,700 people and thousands of livestock lay dead…

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SSA's journal Seismological Research Letters has issued a call for papers for a focus section on the destructive 2026 Venezuela and Colombia Earthquakes. Deadline for submissions is 21 December, 2026. Guest editors: Franck Audemard, Benazir Orihuela, Omar J. Pérez, Jorge G. F. Crempien, Carlos E. Reinoza Gómez, and Manuel Alberto Florez. 

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BBC image A guest post from longtime friend of Inkstain (and friend of the Colorado River) Karl Flessa. By Karl Flessa In the classic Monty Python sketch, a customer returns to the pet shop where, just 30 minutes ago, he purchased a parrot. ...

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A recent study led by researchers at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory asks how and why the spatial footprint of extreme rainfall in the U.S. has changed since 1980....

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Hello Elisa! Thank you for agreeing to this GeoTalk interview. Could you briefly introduce yourself and your background to our readers?

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Caribou graze on Arctic tundra where the zero curtain effect extends the time that moisture is available for microbes that release carbon-rich gases into the atmosphere.NASA As autumn gives way to winter across the Arctic, the ground doesn't immed...

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