#geological-science

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fromArs Technica
2 days ago

New fossil deposits show complex animal groups predating the Cambrian

Four protrusions appear to be arranged in pairs, each consisting of two connected branches surrounding a central depression. We really don't understand what any of these features represent anatomically.
OMG science
Science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
1 week ago

Earth's magnetic field may be more powerful than we thought

Earth's magnetic field extends farther into space than previously believed, providing protection from galactic cosmic rays even beyond the moon.
#climate-change
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 week ago
Environment

Earth being pushed beyond its limits' as energy imbalance reaches record high

The Earth is experiencing a record energy imbalance, leading to unprecedented ocean warming and extreme weather, threatening health and food supplies.
fromMail Online
3 weeks ago
Science

Length of days on Earth is increasing at an 'unprecedented' rate

Earth's days are lengthening at 1.33 milliseconds per century due to climate change, the fastest rate in 3.6 million years, caused by melting polar ice shifting mass toward the equator.
Environment
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 week ago

Earth being pushed beyond its limits' as energy imbalance reaches record high

The Earth is experiencing a record energy imbalance, leading to unprecedented ocean warming and extreme weather, threatening health and food supplies.
Boston
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 weeks ago

Suspected meteorite crashes into Houston home, officials say

A meteorite crashed into a home in suburban Houston, confirmed by NASA after eyewitness reports of a fireball and sonic booms.
#plate-tectonics
OMG science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
2 weeks ago

When did plate tectonics on Earth begin? New research finds some of the earliest clues

Magnetic evidence from ancient Western Australian crust reveals plate tectonics began at least 3.48 billion years ago, half a billion years earlier than previously documented.
fromNature
2 weeks ago

Observing the tidal pulse of rivers from wide-swath satellite altimetry - Nature

Along coastlines, where tides are typically magnified, they profoundly affect navigation, commerce, coastal flooding, water properties and sediment transport. Tides impact the flooding of rivers and, thus, influence the extent of their floodplain, which has cascading effects on biogeochemical and ecological processes.
Environment
OMG science
fromState of the Planet
2 weeks ago

New Study Reveals Hidden "Chemical Currency" Fueling the Ocean's Carbon Cycle

Marine phytoplankton release diverse molecules that fuel microbial life and significantly influence Earth's carbon cycle.
OMG science
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 weeks ago

A molten, mushy state': scientists may have found a new type of liquid planet

Astronomers discovered L98-59d, a molten lava planet 35 light years away that represents an entirely new category of liquid planet with surface temperatures of 1,900°C and a hydrogen sulfide atmosphere.
Science
fromState of the Planet
4 weeks ago

Art Meets Science at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Art and science both seek to understand patterns emerging from noise, sharing creative processes and detail-oriented work despite appearing distinct.
fromwww.theguardian.com
4 weeks ago

Humanity heating planet faster than ever before, study finds

Climate breakdown is occurring more rapidly with the heating rate almost doubling, according to research that excludes the effect of natural factors behind the latest scorching temperatures. It found global heating accelerated from a steady rate of less than 0.2C per decade between 1970 and 2015 to about 0.35C per decade over the past 10 years.
Environment
OMG science
fromState of the Planet
3 weeks ago

Earth's "Missing" Billion Years: Study Links the Great Unconformity to Early Tectonics

Tectonic forces from early supercontinent formation, rather than Snowball Earth glaciation, caused the Great Unconformity, a billion-year gap in Earth's geologic record.
fromMail Online
3 weeks ago

Sea fossils atop world's mountains fuel claims of Noah's Great Flood

Marine fossils have been discovered on mountain ranges around the world, including the Himalayas, Andes and Rocky Mountains, which scientists say were once covered by ancient seas before being pushed upward as continents collided and mountains formed.
OMG science
fromMail Online
1 month ago

Over 120 earthquakes strike near US nuclear weapons testing facilities

The remote military range near the town of Tonopah is not primarily used for nuclear detonations, but it has long been linked to US nuclear weapons programs. The site is used to test how nuclear weapons would be delivered, including experiments where aircraft drop non-nuclear versions of bombs to study their performance.
Science
OMG science
fromMail Online
1 month ago

Acidic geyser erupts at Yellowstone - fears supervolcano could be next

Echinus Geyser, the world's largest acidic geyser at Yellowstone, has resumed erupting after remaining dormant since 2020, with activity beginning in February.
Artificial intelligence
fromEric Jang
1 month ago

As Rocks May Think

Modern coding agents can autonomously write, modify, and run experiments, transforming research workflows and enabling unconstrained code-space exploration, automated hypothesis generation, and hyperparameter optimization.
#snowball-earth
fromAeon
1 month ago
Philosophy

How the harsh, icy world of Snowball Earth shaped life today | Aeon Essays

fromAeon
1 month ago
Philosophy

How the harsh, icy world of Snowball Earth shaped life today | Aeon Essays

OMG science
fromNature
1 month ago

Earth's oldest crystals suggest an early start for plate tectonics

Ancient Australian zircon crystals reveal early Earth had more oxygen and water than expected, with tectonic plate movement occurring at least 3.3 billion years ago, suggesting conditions more favorable for life than previously believed.
fromMail Online
1 month ago

Earthquake strikes America's Heartland above ancient volcanoes

Although Kansas has no active volcanoes, the region marks the southern reach of the Midcontinent Rift System, a massive tectonic event that nearly split North America apart in Earth's distant past. When magma forced its way through the crust during that period, it left behind hardened igneous rock and deep fractures that remain buried thousands of feet underground.
Science
fromwww.kaltblut-magazine.com
2 months ago

Terrain

The body is a shifting landscape transformed by surfaces and sensations. Each look captures a different tactile world: the heat of blood, the cool weight of metal, the yielding drift of water. The result is a sculptural study of how the elements carve, shield, and release the self. The materials we embody become the emotions we carry, and the body becomes a materialised exhibition of our emotions, from the pulse of Blood to the discipline of Metal to the surrender of Water.
Fashion & style
Books
fromNature
2 months ago

Beneath acid skies

An android named Gretel faithfully guards a ruined gate for twenty-six years until a survivor, Elijah, returns to awaken memories and offer her rest.
fromFast Company
2 months ago

The next hot career: Mining engineering

It's a little-known fact that Columbia University, in Manhattan, was home to the first mining school in America-the School of Mines-founded in 1864. For the past three decades, the university's program has been mothballed. Parts of its curriculum were subsumed into the more fashionable subjects of earth and environmental engineering. But next fall, Columbia University will offer a bachelor of science degree in mining engineering once again.
Higher education
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

My helicopter went into freefall inside an active volcano

The 1993 erotic thriller Sliver should have ended differently: Zeke, played by William Baldwin, was scripted to fly a helicopter towards an active volcano, after Sharon Stone's character, Carly, reveals she's the killer. The pilot, Craig Hosking, had been tasked with flying low over Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, accompanied by the director of photography, Mike Benson, and his assistant Christopher Duddy, to film the bubbling lava and white plumes of smoke escaping from the Puu Oo vent.
Film
California
fromMail Online
2 months ago

California hit by TWENTY SECOND earthquake in less than 10 hours

Seismic swarm near San Ramon produced 22 tremors, including magnitude 4.2, with no reported injuries and raised concern about a major Calaveras Fault rupture.
fromNature
1 month ago

What my cave stay taught me about sensors

To capture the biological impact of this extreme environment, I used a comprehensive suite of sensors and biomarker analyses. I wore a wireless electroencephalograph (EEG) system to monitor brain activity, sleep stages and neural signatures of stress and adaptation; the Oura Ring to continuously track sleep patterns, heart-rate variability and circadian-rhythm shifts; and the glucose monitor to follow metabolic responses in real time.
Wearables
fromConde Nast Traveler
2 months ago

Chasing Lava as the Earth Shifts

Land is one of those things that can disappear even as you see it. It falls away beneath you, becoming merely the ground under your feet, because you're thinking about where you're going, or a place slowly blurring out of focus from the airplane window. Land is a primal word, primordial even, like lava. And it is a loaded word if, say, you're Indigenous or descend from a people whose land was taken from them.
Environment
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
1 month ago

Could aliens in another galaxy see dinosaurs on Earth?

For example, reader David Erickson had this on his mind: If there were aliens 66 million light-years from Earth, how big a telescope would they need to see dinosaurs? Ha! I love this question. I've thought of it myself but never worked out the mathexcept to think, Probably pretty big, which turns out to dramatically underestimate the actual answer.
Science
fromNature
2 months ago

Volcanic personality: the man who recognized volcanoes as a planet-shaping force of nature

Remembering the life and work of the geologist George Poulett Scrope, and salmon stories in this week's pick from the Nature archive.
Science
Environment
fromNature
1 month ago

Tree rings and salt lakes give clues about ancient rainfall

Replace hazardous pesticides and apply diverse paleoclimate measurement methods to reconstruct past climate changes.
#deep-time
fromFuturism
2 months ago

Scientists Scramble to Set Up Outpost on Rapidly Melting Glacier

During a rare break in the weather, the NYT says helicopters airlifted the researchers and their equipment 19 miles to their planned outpost site on top of the glacier. The two helicopters involved flew a dozen total loads of cargo from the icebreaker ship to the camp site, while glacial scientists and engineers erected a small tent city, complete with bathrooms, generators, and a mess hall.
Environment
fromHigh Country News
2 months ago

How geology not only shapes the world, it shapes us - High Country News

My father was a petroleum geologist. A lot of my childhood, he was gone, away on oil rigs in the Powder River Basin and remote parts of Wyoming, living in man camps long before cellphones. We had to wait days to talk to him. When he went into the nearest town to shower, he'd find a payphone and call us. I was always breathless with news.
Science
fromwww.nature.com
1 month ago

Atmospheric H2 variability over the past 1,100 years

Warwick, N., Griffiths, P., Keeble, J., Archibald, A., & Pyle, J. Atmospheric implications of increased Hydrogen use. GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/atmospheric-implications-of-increased-hydrogen-use (2022).
Environment
#urban-geology
Environment
fromFuturism
1 month ago

Earth on Track to Become Uninhabitable, Scientists Say

Multiple Earth systems are approaching destabilization, risking cascading tipping points that could commit the planet to a high-temperature 'hothouse Earth' trajectory.
fromWIRED
1 month ago

Two Titanic Structures Hidden Deep Within the Earth Have Altered the Magnetic Field for Millions of Years

A team of geologists has found for the first time evidence that two ancient, continent-sized, ultrahot structures hidden beneath the Earth have shaped the planet's magnetic field for the past 265 million years. These two masses, known as large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVPs), are part of the catalog of the planet's most enormous and enigmatic objects. Current estimates calculate that each one is comparable in size to the African continent, although they remain buried at a depth of 2,900 kilometers.
Science
Science
fromNature
1 month ago

A universal concept for melting in mantle upwellings - Nature

High-pressure multi-anvil experiments simulate volatile-bearing mantle melting at 7 GPa and 1,420–1,630°C using CO2–graphite buffering and Re/Pt capsules.
fromHigh Country News
2 months ago

The Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater have a surprising link - High Country News

Now, in a recent study published in Geology, retired University of New Mexico geologist Karl Karlstrom and his colleagues conclude that the asteroid's impact shook Marble Canyon hard enough to dislodge great chunks of stone and send a landslide tumbling into the river. The debris formed a natural dam that backed up the Colorado for over 50 miles to near present-day Lees Ferry.
Science
Science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
1 month ago

Yellowstone's earthquakes spark microbial boom deep underground

Earthquakes fracture deep rock, increase abiotic hydrogen production, and cause large, temporary boosts and compositional shifts in subsurface microbial communities.
fromNature
2 months ago

Core-envelope miscibility in sub-Neptunes and super-Earths - Nature

The population of super-Earths and sub-Neptunes, and the origin of the radius valley that separates these two classes of planets, is best explained by cores that are made of an Earth-like composition without a substantial amount of accreted ice8,9,10,11. For sub-Neptunes, the hydrogen-rich envelope overlies the rocky core for billions of years, whereas for super-Earths, the envelope may be retained for about 100 Myr (refs. ).
Science
fromFuturism
2 months ago

Meteorologist Warns That Winter Storm Means Trees Are About to Start Exploding

With a major winter storm about to blast pretty much every US state east of the Rocky Mountains, many are scrambling to prepare for the cold, ice, and snow. And according to popular meteorology influencer Max Schuster, there's yet another winter-weather hazard to watch out for: trees exploding in the frigid air. On a viral post on X-formerly-Twitter, Schuster - who holds a meteorology degree
Science
Science
fromNature
2 months ago

A mysterious ancient fingerprint and a lemon-shaped planet - the stories you've missed

A 4,400-kilometre undersea fibre-optic cable can detect seismic waves by measuring light reflections from glass impurities along its length.
Science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
2 months ago

Life's evil twins, called mirror cells, could wipe us out if scientists don't stop them

Engineered mirror-image bacteria used to manufacture durable drugs can evade immune detection and cause uncontrollable infections and environmental spread.
Science
fromMail Online
2 months ago

Hidden faults found at US quake hotspot- experts warn of catastrophe

Hidden tectonic plates and fragments beneath the Mendocino triple junction increase seismic complexity and may cause current earthquake risk models to underestimate West Coast hazards.
Science
fromArs Technica
1 month ago

Ancient Mars was warm and wet, not cold and icy

Mars experienced prolonged warm, wet climates with heavy rainfall that formed kaolinite pebbles, indicating some of the planet's most habitable intervals.
Science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
1 month ago

Earth's core may contain 45 oceans' worth of hydrogen

Earth's core may contain up to 45 oceans' worth of hydrogen, indicating formation from a hydrogen-rich protoplanetary disk and primordial retention of water.
Science
fromFuturism
2 months ago

Scientists Astonished by Glimpse of Huge, Ancient Ocean on Mars

Delta-like formations in Coprates Chasma indicate extensive surface water and an inferred ancient sea level on Mars around three billion years ago.
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