Yes, I guess you could say that geology is a hobby of ours. There are certainly some aspects of geology that interest me more than others, just as there are some that interest Kelly more. And one of the things about geology that really really interests me is studying impact craters, and there have been some interesting developments in recent weeks.
Tag: science
Science is awesome!
I read a story on Salon recently about a new mineral that was discovered in Western Australia: putnisite. Although it will never be a gemstone that Kelly can make into jewelry (it’s beautiful – purple with a pink streak – but its Mohs hardness is only 1.5-2), putnisite is amazing because while most minerals fall into a “family” of common minerals, this is one is truly unique. In addition to calcium, sulphur, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, it also contains both strontium and chromium, and the chemical combination of all these in putnisite make it unlike any of the other 4,000 or so known minerals in the world. It is “completely unique and unrelated to anything.”
How cool is that?
-Geoff
Surviving the Apocalypse
As anyone who knows me well will tell you, I am somewhat obsessed with emergency preparedness and safety in general. Mind you, not to the point of having a bunker and hoarding gold coins and such, but I do take that sort of thing seriously when it comes to normal Red Cross-type preparation.
Well, this past week I got to hear Annalee Newitz, one of the founders of io9, give a reading from her new book: Scatter, Adapt, and Remember:
How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction. And it was quite illuminating, and a lot of fun to boot. Count on the Harvard Bookstore to always bring in cool authors.
Zombies vs. animals? The living dead wouldn’t stand a chance – Boing Boing
Kelly found an article recently that she knew would interest me.
One of the things about zombies that is commonly accepted within the genre is that they are dead and rotting.* And in the normal world, all dead flesh is eventually broken down and picked apart by Mother Nature, leaving only bones, which will also one day disappear. Everything from bacteria to bugs to birds to bears, all feast on whatever carrion they can find. And so one scientist finally asks, how would zombies fare in the real world? Pretty poorly, apparently. As the author puts it:
Relax. Next time you’re lying in bed, unable to fall asleep thanks to the vague anxiety of half-rotten corpses munching on you in the dark, remember this: if there was ever a zombie uprising, wildlife would kick its ass.
-Geoff
*There are notable exceptions. The zombies in films like 28 Days Later and Zombieland, as well as the zombies in the Left4Dead video games, are technically alive, but have been turned into rabid/feral monsters due to some nasty disease.
Denial, or where science and belief collide
I try to not rant too often on our blog, because I prefer to talk about things that are interesting and beautiful and even uplifting. But sometimes I just feel compelled to do so because the absurdity and stupidity of something really gets to me. This is one of those times. So I ask your forgiveness as I indulge my anger a bit.
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One hundred thirty years ago today – Krakatoa
The gigantic eruption that made the volcanic island of Krakatau in Indonesia (or commonly in English, Krakatoa) famous down to the present day actually began on August 26th, 1883. But the final eruption that destroyed most of the island happened on the following day, in a series of four gigantic explosions. Ultimately the volcano was blamed for more than 36,000 deaths, although some historians and scientists consider that number (estimated by the Dutch authorities, as it was part of the Dutch East Indies at that time) to be much too low. Krakatoa was the first major volcanic eruption to be studied and measured with modern scientific instruments such as seismographs and barographs.
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A New Storm Naming System Proposal
I am a bit of a weather geek, and a history geek, and sometimes a weather history geek. But you knew that already.
So anyway, I heard about this interesting proposal to change the naming system for hurricanes, and I certainly appreciate the sentiment.
What I’ve been reading lately
While both Geoff and I have spent a ton of time at work lately (this is my first day off in 11 days I think) I’m in the middle of a fascinating book and I’ve been emailed some really fascinating blog links. Now it’s my turn to share them with you.
There be WHALES here!
Or at least dolphins. Cetaceans of some kind for sure.
Yeah, I love me some whales. Cetaceans of any kind, really, because porpoises and dolphins are also pretty cool. On the rare occasions that I get out on the water, especially someplace like the Stellwagen Bank, I usually see at least a few. Nothing spectacular, but still pretty cool to see stuff in the wild. But I have never in my life seen anything like this mega-pod of dolphins spotted near San Diego. It stretched across seven miles of ocean. They think there may have been as many as 100,000 altogether. Can you imagine?
Makes me want to go whale watching. Or fishing. Or both. Just to be out on the water.
-Geoff
Objects in Space
I have had an interest in astronomy for much of my life, and for much of the past 15 years or so that interest has focused on comets and asteroids. I even own a fragment of a meteorite that I keep on a shelf with my science books (along with my jar of ash from Mt. St. Helens – that’s another story). Years ago I wrote a paper on the Impact Theory as the cause of the dinosaur extinction and have been fascinated by the subject ever since, even going as far as to visit several impact crater sites in the Southeastern United States: Wetumpka; Flynn Creek; and Wells Creek. And I even managed to have an e-mail discussion with the Dr. Walter Alvarez that I was able to incorporate into my paper. I dare say that was one of the most memorable and meaningful experiences of my life.
This week, two distinctive events have brought the subject of cosmic impacts on the Earth back to the forefront of my mind: the spectacularly close passing of Asteroid 2012 DA14 tonight; and the equally spectacular destruction of a slightly smaller meteorite (about 1/3 the size of 2012 DA14) over the Ural Mountains that actually caused damage to buildings and injuries to bystanders.
The Books are Taking Over... 