olelog

Why are so many topographic maps covered with spidery red grids and mysterious numbers and codes like "T21W"? They're part of the arcane, historic and very handy public land grid, surveyed by the U.S. government for more than 200 years. I've prepared a feature that explains the system, including ...

When I was given a grab-bag of rock specimens the other week, this piece of limestone studded with little Devonian corals caught my eye. A few quick tests told me I could try acid digestion on it, so that's what I did. See the process, the results and the trade-offs after I bathed it in hydrochl ...

I spent a fair amount of my late teens visiting wild caves. Then I moved to a place with no caves, moved again, and many years later I'm not sure I could repeat anything I used to do underground. But I still enjoy a tour of a good show cave, especially when they lay on the science instead of the ...

For me, the science news of the week was the Nature paper this week announcing that the genes of Emiliania huxleyi have been sequenced. "Ehux" is an extremely important member of the ocean's plankton that grows almost everywhere in the world and pulls carbon dioxide out of the water—and th ...

Simon Wellings, of the Metageologist blog, has finally addressed a key topic for the future of the geoscientific professions: are we properly fascinating our children with geology? Since kids avoid the outdoors these days and get their stimulation from video screens, his new post on the geology ...

Isen omkring Nordpolen forsvinder hurtigere, end selv de mest skeptiske...

Det svenske Vattenfall overtog tre danske kulfyrede kraftværker –...

I Sverige har en mineralsamler fundet de første svenske diamanter...

Dig og klimaet Informationscenter for Miljø og Sundhed har i dag (1....

Jordskred, som det der onsdag aften rev 400 meter af motorvej E6 og 300 meter...

Bob Henson, at The National Centers For Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder has written an excellent piece in UCAR Atmospheres on CO2. Well worth a read. Click the image below:

UTAH – Congratulations to Team Utah on completing a successful field season! Team Utah 2013 at the end of their last day in the field. From left to right: (front) Dr. Thom Wilch (Albion), Michael Williams (’16, COW), Ellen Redner (’14, Albion), Cam Matesich (’14, COW), Adam Silverstein (’16, COW ...

The NOAA Automated Atmospheric River Detection system has picked up a storm with some potential in the Pacific, which at this point (five days out) seems to be pointed at California: Atmospheric River? That’s the forecast image for Monday morning. According to Michael Dettinger, who was fielding ...

This post is inspired by my good friend and fellow scientist Graeme T. Lloyd. In a conversation today he brought up a great idea for all academia: the idea that a researcher could choose a unique name when they began publishing, much like an actor chooses a stage name. I think this is brilliant! ...

Michael Leunig By Claire First thing I need to make really clear, is that I love my PhD. I love what I’m researching and I love the people I am working with. Up until this point, I have been really lucky. My PhD has been a breeze. You hear all the time about people who come to loathe the researc ...