Blogs in motion and drawing attention to women science bloggers
- The big news of the week was the launching of Wired’s new stable of science blogs, which includes two awesome geoblogging Brians: Brian Romans of Clastic Detritus, and Brian Switek of Laelaps.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/clasticdetritus
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/laelaps - @DNLee5‘s new blog SouthernPlayalisticEvolutionMusic was also added to the Southern Fried ScienceNetwork:
http://hiphopevolution.southernfriedscience.com/ - Meanwhile, a discussion of one of the less welcome features of all these new networks – the gender imbalance – led to @mjrobbins crowd-sourcing a list of science bloggers with two X chromosomes,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2010/sep/16/women-science-blogging - Another new-ish geoblog that you may have missed: Life in Plane Light by @ugrandite
http://lifeinplanelight.wordpress.com/ - Two reminders for upcoming editions of the Accretionary Wedge geoblog carnival: September’s theme is “Important geological experiences”; October’s, “your favorite deskcrop”.
http://outsidetheinterzone.blogspot.com/2010/09/call-for-posts-aw-27-important.html
http://pascals-puppy.blogspot.com/2010/09/call-for-submissions-for-accretionary.html
Earthquakes
- The media did not endear themselves to Chris this week when their sensationalist coverage of a talk at the British Science Festival by Dr. Roger Musson. He argued that the seismicity recorded in historical records show that London and the rest of the UK are bound to be shaken by earthquake in the future; even outlets that should know better could not help inserting the highly misleading word ‘overdue’.
http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/highlights/yesterdaysearthquakes.html
http://volcanism.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/londons-overdue-killer-quake-a-case-study-in-media-sensationalism - In a nice temporal irony, the difficulties of properly communicating earthquake risks were already being discussed, in the wake of the head of the INGV in Italy suggesting that perhaps seismic data should not be made public to avoid scaremongering.
http://volcanism.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/ingv-head-ponders-keeping-seismic-data-secret - Dave Petley got a tour along the Darfield (Canterbury) earthquake rupture, and took some nice photos.
http://daveslandslideblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/images-of-darfield-canterbury.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
(via @Geoblogfeed) - Another nice fresh fault scarp: Cucapah Earthquake in Baja Mexico
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2010/09/cucapah-earthquake-in-baja-mexico.html
(via @EarthPic) - Interesting interview with Eric Calais about his experiences on the ground in Haiti, advising on rebuilding.
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/09/on-the-ground-with-eric-calais.html
Planets
- New, detailed topographic of the Moon: a beautiful Hadean/Archean impact record.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/moon-map/
(via @clasticdetritus)
New Scientist provides some Interesting context: it seems that there is some dispute over whether the more detailed crater record verifies or disproves a Late Heavy Bombardment 2.8-3 billion years ago.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19461-crater-map-rekindles-debate-over-moon-impacts.html - A beautiful interplanetary Big Picture. Who needs artists when you have space probe cameras?
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/09/around_the_solar_system.html
(via @lockwooddewitt)
(Paleo)climate
- Increasing ease of shipping via the Arctic Ocean So much for the daunting days of arctic exploration. We’ve certainly managed to puncture the mystique of the NW Passage, haven’t we?
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/arctic-shipping-gets-boring/
(via @rkerr46) - Are the ozone hole and global warming related? Climate Q&A from NASA’s Earth Observatory. [Anne finds that today’s students, even meteorology and earth science majors, don’t know much about the ozone hole and are likely to confuse it’s causes with those of global warming.]
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/climateqa/are-the-ozone-hole-and-global-warming-related/?src=eoa-blogs - The annual Antarctic ozone hole maximum is actually upon us – it appears to be continuing the trend of not getting any worse, even if recovery is still some decades away.
http://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/ - Those obsessively tracking Arctic sea ice: it’s volume that matters, not area, & 2010 volume may be lowest yet recorded
http://climateprogress.org/2010/09/14/exclusive-scientists-track-sharp-drop-in-oldest-thickest-arctic-sea-ice/ - When it comes to climate, ‘consensus’ has negative connotations to public: http://www.science20.com/science_20/when_it_comes_climate_consensus
(via @HankCampbell, @JacquelynGill) - Women are more likely to believe science of climate change, study finds:
http://news.msu.edu/news/story.php?story_id=8284&vars=
(via @lisahymas,@JacquelynGill)
Water
- For World Rivers day, a nice graphic showing length & volume of world’s largest 20 rivers.
http://www.thebigwild.org/rivers_infographic
(via @rivrchick) - Drought shrinks Amazon River to lowest level in 47 years.
http://www.physorg.com/news203797019.html - Pakistan floods: a humanitarian disaster with huge impact on regional & international security. Yet we ignore.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175292/tomgram:_juan_cole,_the_media - Why are Americans not hearing more about Pakistan? Check out the cover of different covers of @time magazine. A picture = 1000 words.
http://climateprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Time-cover-Pakistan.gif
(via @climatebrad, @bryanrwalsh)
- Peru’s groundwater is being sucked dry by British love of asparagus. 8 m/yr drop!!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/15/peru-asparagus-british-wells
(via @lockwooddewitt)
General Geology
- A great introduction to the rock -> history translation problem: The nature of time in geologic record by http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/the-nature-of-time-in-the-geologic-record/
- A summary and links about the glacier/mountain paper in Nature: How ice can be a mountain chain’s best friend
http://www.outdoor-science.com/?p=897 - Cornelia Clermont Cameron An incredible early woman geologist,profiled by @sfoxx:
http://highway8a.blogspot.com/2010/09/cornelia-clermont-cameron.html - Kay Fowler Billings, another pioneering woman geologist, profiled by @ugrandite.
http://lifeinplanelight.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/women-in-science-day/ - The lead isotope systematics of pregnancy and lactation from the Lab Lemming Lounge:
http://lablemminglounge.blogspot.com/2010/09/lead-isotope-systematics-of-pregnancy.html - Cool peri-glacial geomorphic features in a Geology Happens post:
http://geologyhappens.blogspot.com/2010/09/peri-glacial-evidence.html
(via @geologyhappens) - Two great discussions of how to handle dangers of doing fieldwork, with comment contributions from geoscientists in both places
http://scientopia.info/blogs/proflikesubstance/2010/09/15/co-post-a-conversation-on-the-dangers-of-field-science/http://stephaniemarion.blogspot.com/2010/09/fieldwork-dangers.html
Fossils
- A review of "Earth After Us" sounds intriguing. How to become a fossil http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/2010/09/how-to-become-a-fossil/
(via @BoraZ) - Why this extinction isn’t like the others Brief, thoughtful explanation of our potential anthro-extinction event
http://sarcozona.org/2010/09/15/why-this-extinction-isnt-like-the-others
(via @culturingsci)
Interesting Miscellaney
- A follow up to the ‘sun affects radioactive decay rates’ story: new experiment appears to rule out (solar) neutrinos…
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-09/nios-rsr091510.php - Just Beautiful – Inside Lascaux: Rare, Unpublished photos of some of the oldest art ever created.
http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/48231/inside-lascaux-rare-unpublished
(via @jessebdylan) - Great, pointed interview with @DanicaMcKellar on using sex to sell maths to young girls:
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/09/17/danica_mckellar_interview
(via @JenLucPiquant, @alexbellos) - Really interesting article with photos of atomic bomb tests – and the stories of the people that took them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/science/14atom.html?_r=1&8dpc
(via @perrykid)
Nice plan for content warnings on Mastodon and the Fediverse. Now you need a Mastodon/Fediverse button on this blog.