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Showing posts with the label geology

The Cabrières Biota: an Ordovician Snapshot

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When I saw "epic importance" and "fossils" in the same headline, I figured whatever'd been found would be at least somewhat out of the ordinary. I've learned to take journalistic puffery with at least a few grains of salt. But this time, the fossils really were something important: exceptionally well-preserved samples from a 470,000,000 year old biome. "Epic Importance", Fabulous Fossils, and a Calamitous Crisis Down a Rabbit Hole — — And Out again Welcome to the Cabrières Biota Lobsters Do It, Maybe Trilobites Did It Lobopodians and Other Seriously Weird Critters Cabrières Biota Fossils: What's the Big Deal? Heraclitus and Life in a Changing World Ordovician Climate and Getting a Grip Two Biota and Increasing Diversity Gradual Cooling, Occasional Meteor Showers, and an Ice Age Living in a Vast and Ancient Universe ... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Almost 400 fossils will show how life worked in a polar bio

T. Rex, or Not T. Rex, That is the Question

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Headlines about Tyrannosaurus rex, scientists, and "what we thought we knew" being wrong started showing up in my news feed last week. It's been a while since I talked about dinosaurs, and I found Nicholas R. Longrich and Evan T. Saitta's research paper: a pre-publication copy, at any rate. So this week I thought I'd talk about T. rex, Nanotyrannus, and what they'd learned. That's what I thought. Here's what I wound up with, after diving down delightfully diverse rabbit holes: Tyrannosaurus, Nanotyrannus: New Study, Old Debate T. Rex, Tyrant King Lizard; something else; and King Kong Trix the Tyrannosaur Takes a Walk 'What is Wrong With This Picture?' A Hodgepodge of Oddments A Skull, a Caption, and As-Yet-Unsolved Puzzles Best Supporting Monster? T. Hawkins, H. P. Lovecraft: and a Little Science Great Western Seaway: From Hadrosaurs to Prairie Chickens "...There is a Great Deal We Do Not Know...." Growth Rates

Yellowstone: Geysers, Quakes and, Eventually, a Supereruption

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I started writing about Yellowstone, hazards, and science a few weeks ago. Then life happened — there's a link near the end of this post — something more timely came up, and now I'm back with a look at the area's past, present and future. Travelers' Tales Yellowstone: Hydrothermal and Other Hazards Explosions and Boardwalks Earthquake Lake and a 1959 Landslide Looking Ahead Supereruptions: and a Film Clip More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Yellowstone history, tall tales, science, hazards and disasters: one recent, another possible. How geysers work, what's ahead: and a short disaster film clip.)

Another Prescription SNAFU / Yellowstone: USGS Video

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I'll be talking, briefly, about my most recent effort to both follow the rules and get a needed prescription. (Spoiler alert: I finally got the stuff, and have maybe three weeks before wading into this mess again.) But first, an even briefer look at something I'd much rather have been talking about. Yellowstone: Earthquakes Happen Prescribed Medications, Controlled Substances, and Me It Could be Worse Postscript: Success! Until Next Month More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (My monthly efforts to get a prescribed medication were more than usually frustrating this time. I talk a little about that, and less about Yellowstone geology.)

Super-Duper Super Earths and the Search for Life

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TThis week, I'll talk about Professor Ethan Siegel's view that "the myth of the super-habitable super-Earth planet" is "a scientific catastrophe", other non-catastrophes; and a problem with "super-Earths" as a label. Along the way I'll look at science, news, headlines and silliness. And finally, skip lightly over a 13th century academic debate that got out of hand. "...A Scientific Catastrophe"? Earth ISN'T the Best of All Possible Worlds??? Bigger Isn't (Always) Better: But Neither is Smaller Science News, Silliness, Headlines and "Catastrophe" Proxima Chorizo, the Great Moon Hoax and Headlines Exoplanets: New Categories for Strange New Worlds Sorting Exoplanets by — Radius? Mass, Period and Discovery Method of Known Exoplanets (March 2022) New Worlds Discovered by Kepler, TESS, and Everything Else Still Seeking the Legendary Earth 2.0 The Problem with "Super-Earths" HD 219134 b: Da

Active Volcano on Venus: Before and After Images

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Venus is dead as a doornail as far as life is concerned. Life as we know it, at any rate, and already I'm drifting off-topic. Geologically, though, we've know that there's still metaphorical life in Venus. Or was, until very recently. Orbiters have sent back evidence of geologically-recent volcanic activity, including images of shield volcanoes and lava flows. But we had no direct evidence of a volcano that's active now. Until scientists sifted through data recorded and stored in the early 1990s. Observing Venus: Five Millennia in About 700 Words Telescopic Views Pulp Fiction and the Radar Astronomers Missions to Venus SAR, Science and Magellan Active(?) Volcano on Venus: Maat Mons From the Magellan Archives: a Changing Volcanic Vent — — And New Lava Flows, Maybe Hot Spots, Sulfur Dioxide, Venusian Volcanoes and Acronyms Missions, Maps, Maat Mons and Mor e "Greater Admiration" More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Views of Ven

Exoplanets, Iron, Evolution and Strange Geochemistry

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Science stories and topics have been piling up in my 'to do' list for more than a year. This week, I'm catching up on what we're learning about life here on Earth; and developments in the ongoing search for extraterrestrial life..... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

My Top 10 Science News Stories For 2020

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I'm seeing "The Best of," "Top 10" and "2020 Top" headlines in my news feed: as usual for late December. Instead of waiting for someone else to highlight this year's science news stories, I'm making my own 'top 10' list. Each item is something that caught my attention, seemed important, or has been lurking in my 'to do' folders. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Fukushima, Six Years Later

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The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster could have been much worse. But it may have been avoidable. Meltdowns and non-nuclear explosions at the power plant didn't directly kill anyone. More than 40 patients who were evacuated from a nearby hospital died later. They had been critically ill. Getting rushed away from a nuclear incident in progress wouldn't have been good for their health. Three former power company executives now face criminal charges. The earthquake, tsunami, and meltdowns in 2011 killed nearly 16,000 folks and left many others homeless. Many folks still can't return to their homes. Quakes happen. This one was nobody's fault. What happened in Fukushima is another matter. I'll be looking at the disaster, what's happened since, and why questioning authority can be a good idea. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Old Truths, New Aspects

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The biggest critters with backbones are living today: baleen whales. Finding the largest of them started getting harder about a century back. We didn't quite drive the blue and fin whales to extinction, happily. We're learning when they got so big, and maybe why. We're also learning more about origins of dinosaurs and the domestic cat. It's not the same origin. One happened around the time we started storing grain, the other 200,000,000 years ago. Give or take a bit. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Climate Change, Whirligig Icebergs

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Climate change is still in the news. Don't worry, I won't rant about impending doom, or say that Earth's climate isn't changing. This planet's climate has been changing for several billion years. I'd be astounded if it stopped changing now. How much we know and understand about our own past, and Earth's, is also changing. I'll be talking about that, and why I'm not upset that we're learning. I'll also take a look at (real) climate change, why I think we are not doomed, and choices we must make soon. "Soon," in this case, is somewhere in the next millennium or so. My opinion. We really do not want to make these decisions hastily.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Mars: Leaky Red Planet

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What we're learning about Mars, and a new type of really small spacecraft, reminded me of earth, air and kilts. Also pharaohs, Thomas Paine, and Lord Kelvin. By then I was running out of time to write something more tightly-organized. I figured you might be interested in some of what I have written. On on the other hand, maybe not. So I added links to my ramblings before and after what I said more-or-less about the science news, and figure you can decide what's interesting and what's not. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Earliest Life: Maybe

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We're not sure how skulls found in central China fit into the family tree. They're a bit like Neanderthals, a bit like folks still living in that part of the world, and not quite like anyone else. Other scientists found what may, or may not, be the oldest evidence of life found so far. That's in Quebec, Canada. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Pollution: Still Learning

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Scientists found PCBs and PBDEs in deep-sea critters, armyworms are on the march in Africa, and Mexico City's air isn't as clean as we'd hoped. Rational concern seems reasonable.... ...Last week I talked about blaming our tools for our mistakes. ( February 10, 2017 ) This week I'll revisit Lovecraft's "placid island of ignorance,"sort of.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Gems, Metal, and Earth's Core

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The Fire of Australia, a whacking great chunk of opal, isn't particularly interesting from a 'science' viewpoint. But I'm human, which is probably why anything big and shiny gets my attention: including that rock. Wrenching myself back on-topic, scientists found a stream of liquid metal flowing at the edge of Earth's core. Studying it may help us learn why Earth's magnetic field flip-flops at apparently-irregular intervals. What we'll learn is beyond me: we didn't know much about geomagnetic reversal when I started school. We still don't, for that matter. As I keep saying, there is a very great deal left to learn. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Pluto’s Cup-Capped Mountains

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Before the New Horizons mission, we knew Pluto was very cold, had little or no atmosphere, and that was about it. ( October 30, 2015 ; July 10, 2015 ) Now scientists think they've spotted 'ice volcanoes' on Pluto that look a lot like shield volcanoes on Earth and Mars.... ...we're rational creatures, created in the image of God, and "little less than a god." Studying this universe, and using that knowledge is part of our job. So is using our power responsibly.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Zircons and Earth's First Life

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Bits of carbon encased in zircon crystals more than four billion years ago may have come from living creatures. Then again, maybe not. Either way, we're learning more about Earth's long story.... ...This space-time continuum doesn't work like Anaximander 's model, either. Anaximander's cosmology had Earth in the center: but he speculated that we might not be standing on the only world, and that worlds change. Aristotle's cosmology had Earth in the center of the universe, too: but he didn't think multiple worlds existed. About 16 centuries later, educated Europeans like Dante Alighieri had a very high opinion of Aristotle.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Organics on a Comet, and Earth's Early Magnetism

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Scientists found evidence that Earth's magnetic field is more than a half-billion years older than we'd thought. As usual, that raises more questions. The European Space Agency's Philae lander detected a "rich array" of organic compounds on Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko 67P, including hydrogen cyanide (HCN). This is a big deal, since much of Earth's water came from comets: and HCN may have helped life begin on our world. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Climate Change, Deccan Traps: Still Learning

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Scientists found a two-century lag between temperature changes near Earth's poles — and maybe a "bipolar seesaw" temperature cycle. Other scientists say that shock waves from the Chicxulub impact may have triggered volcanic eruptions in the Deccan Traps and elsewhere.... ...We don't, I think, have all the answers about how Earth's climate changes and what we should do about it: but we're discovering what some of the questions are. That's a good start. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Setting Earth's Thermostat

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Events like the Pinatubo eruptions of 1991 happen about once a century — on average — roughly. Some scientists say that next time there's a Pinatubo-scale eruption, we should deploy a fleet of instrument-carrying aircraft, balloons, and satellites: to see exactly what happens when sulfur dioxide and other chemicals get dumped into the upper atmosphere. We know that the stuff causes regional and global climate changes: but we don't know exactly how the process works. There's more than pure scientific curiosity behind wanting this knowledge. Earth's climate is changing, which is par for the course: but we're at a point where our actions can affect climate. The job at hand is leaning how Earth's climate works, how it changes, and what causes the changes. Then we'll decide what to do about that knowledge.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .