Stuff we linked to on Twitter last week

Volcanoes

• From Callan Bentley comes the “xenobomb”: an amazing natural mash-up of deep earth and surface magmatic processes.
  http://blogs.agu.org/mountainbeltway/2012/02/18/the-xenobomb/
  Although his neologism has kicked off a small terminology debate in the geoblogosphere:
  http://ron.outcrop.org/blog/?p=1492

Earthquakes

• Clever. China tests active subsurface monitoring of a fault by firing regular airgun pulses though it.
  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46398859/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.Tz5WY-NWosZ
  (via @kwinkunks)
• It looks like the L’Aquila quake trial is going downhill fast as it becomes lost in arcane debates about the best methodology for assessing seismic hazard. I fear for the outcome.
  http://www.nature.com/news/new-twists-in-italian-seismology-trial-1.10049
• Meanwhile, here’s another controversial trial of public officials after a deadly disaster, although in this case it’s about about the response rather than prediction.
  http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/02/14/Eight-in-Chile-indicted-in-tsunami-case/UPI-77351329233869/
  (via @CPPGeophysics)
• And it’s just been reported that the CTV building that collapsed in last February’s Christchurch earthquake, killing 115 people, did not meet the mandated building standards.
  http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2012/02/13/235112.htm
• An event like the Christchurch quake in Wellington could cost NZ$37 billion; >400 unreinforced buildings at risk.
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6434263/Wellington-earthquake-fear-No-way-in-or-out
• Cool stuff – using LIDAR to measure post earthquake deformation: write-up of Science paper:
  http://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/item/25771-nasa-pioneers-3d-earthquake/http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6069/702

Fossils

• Based on seasonal patterns of bone growth, it seems that polar dinosaurs stayed in the Arctic through the long winter nights.
  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.22428/abstract
  (via @Laelaps)

Planets

• Boo. NASA budget guts planetary science programme, AKA the part of NASA’s space programme that actually achieves things.
  http://planetary.org/blog/article/00003373/
  (via @elakdawalla)
• Weird. The rotation of Venus has noticeably slowed in the last couple of decades.
  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/02/120214-venus-planets-slower-spin-esa-space-science/
  (via @eruptionsblog)

Water

• The water footprint of humanity: 92% goes to crops
  http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/02/06/1109936109
  (via @thirstygecko, @jfleck)
• Florida’s aquifer adventure – great images of springs, caves, etc. and discussion of connections between groundwater & the surface.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htBV_ZgoLmo&feature=youtu.be
• India’s barefoot water scientists: helping with water supply & sustainability problems for farmers’ shallow wells .
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6LT3Gt8N38&feature=youtu.be

Environmental

• The schadenfreude is strong when reading the leaked documents from top climate science-muddiers the Heartland Institute – but will it influence people who didn’t already ‘know’ this stuff?
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/feb/15/leaked-heartland-institute-documents-climate-scepticism?CMP=twt_gu
  http://www.wral.com/news/science/story/10741778/
• A very interesting analysis of why clean energy is still struggling to take off in US. China and shale gas are two major factors.
  http://www.wired.com/magazine/2012/01/ff_solyndra/all/1
• Adding people, ships & oil rigs to the melting Arctic is a recipe for environmental & political chaos.
  http://www.cfr.org/arctic/strategy-advance-arctic-economy/p27258?cid=emc-ArcticPIM_pressblast-021612
  (via @carlzimmer)
• Is protecting the environment incompatible with social justice?
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2012/feb/13/protecting-environment-social-justice
  (via @ddimick, @guardianeco)

General Geology

• Neutralising Africa’s ‘exploding lake’ Kivu.
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16394635
• Words for every geologist to live by: ‘If I stopped at every road cut I came across I’d never get anything else done.’
  http://www.watchingforrocks.com/2012/02/back-road-into-town.html
• The latest geologic time nitpickery: Should Ma indicate duration as well as a point in time (million years ago)?
  http://earth-pages.co.uk/2012/02/15/time-wars-flare-up-again/

Interesting Miscellaney

• Fascinating stuff. ‘Human wormholes’: still-living people who remember distant historical events
  http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/02/07/146534518/rasputin-was-my-neighbor-and-other-true-tales-of-time-travel
• Mooresville School District, a Laptop (and Learning) Success Story:
  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/education/mooresville-school-district-a-laptop-success-story.html?pagewanted=all
  (via @Revkin)
• Baby steps in the right direction for female scientists.
  http://chronicle.com/article/The-Next-Step-for-Female/130717/
• But meanwhile, in what is unfortunately the real world: the ever-articulate Emily Willingham on what it’s like to be a woman right now.
  http://biologyfiles.fieldofscience.com/2012/02/men-should-just-shove-aspirin-up-their.html
• And then there’s what stock thinks a young female scientist looks like. What the *&^% happened to her clothes?
  http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-13771784-lab-work.php
  (via @Ananyo)
  Evelyn has some good commentary on this apparent misconception:
  http://blogs.agu.org/georneys/2012/02/19/how-a-geochemist-really-dresses/