October 10, 2008
Category: Teaching and Learning
There is still no official word from Seed about matching funds and/or prize drawings for the Donors Choose Challenge. However, Janet has posted a list of individual ScienceBloggers' incentives here. Donating to another Scibling's challenge might not contribute to the glory of the geoblogosphere, but it will contribute to education.
If I weren't trying to win bragging rights, I would claim that the contribution to education is what matters. But really, pretending that bragging rights aren't important is just sour grapes from an ethicist whose readers do not share her commitment to charity. Bragging rights matter! And we are going to win some - all of us. All of us who donate, anyway - if you don't give, you don't get any bragging rights or warm fuzzies. And since northern hemisphere winter is coming on, most of you will need all the warm fuzzies you can get; please consider donating.
Below the fold, I've listed the three projects from my challenge slate where I think your donation will make the most impact.
Read on »
Posted by Maria Brumm at 5:37 PM • 0 Comments
October 9, 2008
Category: Geosciences
As papers come through my RSS reader, I flag anything that looks interesting, with the vague intention of getting back to it later.
Ha, ha. Very few of the articles I flag actually make it through my periodic purging of the to-read list. Since Berkeley has finally figured out that I'm no longer a student and they should stop providing me with library access to journals, the barrier between "hm, looks interesting" and "I'm actually going to read this" has gotten even higher.
Below the fold: 5 papers that haven't quite made the hurdle.
Read on »
Posted by Maria Brumm at 9:22 AM • 2 Comments
October 8, 2008
Category: Meta
As you may or may not be aware, Green Gabbro is one of the smallest blogs on the ScienceBlogs network. But on the challenge leaderboard tonight, I'm just two donors behind a first place tie between Drug Monkey, Science Women, and Uncertain Principles. These blogs all get at least triple my traffic (and Science Woman and Alice have stooped to bribery, to boot), but still are struggling to keep up with your generosity.
On a per capita basis, the geoblogosphere kicks philanthropic ass!
I'm also pleased to report that we've put new hot plates into a woefully underequipped high school science lab and rock samples and stream tables into the hands of 125 Texas 4th graders. I spent hours exploring fluid mechanics and sediment mobilization in my backyard sand box as a kid; I can only assume that playing with stream tables in science class will instantly turn the entire 4th grade population of this elementary school into an insatiable horde of small geologists.
Of course, the challenge is barely beginning. There are still three weeks left, and geology - the future of which depends on your contributions towards the propagandizing of young and impressionable minds - could still fall back into ignominious obscurity.
And if kids in this Oklahoma classroom don't get some rocks in the next two weeks, they won't be getting any rocks at all! Santa Claus is not going to leave coal in their stockings. We need to step up and do it ourselves.
I know that your budget is already stretched. You've been eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch every day this month and throwing every last penny you can find to either the Obama campaign or No on 8.
So I'm going to stoop to bribery. Click through to see the prizes.
Read on »
Posted by Maria Brumm at 9:30 AM • 4 Comments
October 6, 2008
Category: Energy
A week ago, the USGS updated its official estimates of U.S. geothermal energy resources for the first time in over 30 years. During the past three decades, we've made significant progress on technology to exploit geothermal energy in areas where there's plenty of heat in the ground, but no natural hydrogeologic plumbing system to help us exploit it. In other words: We are much better at cracking rocks underground than we used to be.
Assuming that this type of rock-cracking technology (aka "enhanced" geothermal systems) continues to work out as well as expected, the new study estimates that the equivalent of 50% of the nation's current electricity supply is just sitting around in the ground in the Western U.S. That's less than the 150% of current electricity that we could get if we blanketed the windiest 6% of the nation in windmills (source), but it is still nothing to sniff at.
Here's where we should be drilling:
Read on »
Posted by Maria Brumm at 8:28 AM • 11 Comments
October 1, 2008
Category: Teaching and Learning
I've seen the geoblogosphere periodically erupt in harrumphing about the way geology is treated (and by "treated" we usually mean "ignored") in K-12 education. Well, now's our chance to fix that. Budget cuts and the No Child Left Behind Act mean that science is getting squeezed out of elementary school classrooms. Teachers know that their students love science, and are determined to keep them engaged, but they don't have the resources they need.
That's where you come in.
Donors Choose is a nonprofit organization designed to help you help schools tackle the projects you think are important. They gather proposals from public school teachers, and handle all the money stuff; you pick out the proposals that seem most compelling, and provide students with desperately-needed educational resources.
I've highlighted several projects that will bring low-tech hands-on Earth science to kids across the country: rock and mineral kits, stream tables, and basic lab supplies like notebooks and safety goggles.
All of the projects are at "high poverty" schools - at least 40% of the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, meaning that their families earn 130% or less of the federal poverty line. And by "federal poverty line" I mean "supporting a family of 4 on a grad student's salary". These are not classrooms where parents will chip in to buy the latest educational doohickeys; these are classrooms where parents can barely afford pencils.
Since my partner's grad student salary only supports two people right now, and not four, I figure we can spare ten bucks. If we can spare ten bucks, so can you - and if everyone who reads this blog throws $10 into the pot, we can bring several hundred kids to the Dark Side the joys of geology.
Seed Media Group, the ScienceBorg corporate mothership, has put up matching money for the past two years' challenges. I don't have details about matching funds for this year's challenge, but I am assuming that some will be forthcoming. Moreover, a few projects on my challenge slate have also been sponsored with matching funds from other charitable foundations. Pick one of these, and your $10 will turn into $30! That's a much better deal than the $5 special at your local greasy noodle emporium; pack sandwiches for the rest of the week, and give your lunch money to support public schools.
I'll be writing much more in the coming month about the individual projects you should support, the glory that will accrue to the geoblogosphere as we create a nation of budding young geoscientists, and the fabulous prizes you can win by donating (save your donation thank-you email!). For now, though, please take a few moments to browse through some of the projects that need funding. Which do you like? Are there any listed by Donors Choose that you think I should include in the challenge?
Posted by Maria Brumm at 10:25 AM • 3 Comments
September 29, 2008
Category: Links
Posted by Maria Brumm at 8:19 PM • 0 Comments
September 27, 2008
Category: Meta
TODAY! TODAY TODAY! Come party with me, Sandra, Dave, and GrrlScientist in the upper mezzanine at Ozzie's, 105 W. Mercer St. just behind the Space Needle*.
Some of the Seattle Skeptics are showing up, and later on, a few folks from the Pacific Science Center. Meet lots of people who care about science and science education, and drink beer (or orange juice, you know, if you're into that sort of thing) on Seed's dime! We'll buy the first couple of rounds, at least, and keep going until we run out of budget.
We'll start at 4 and carry on until... um, I'm not sure how long we'll carry on, but I promised my Science Center friend that we'd be there until at least 6:30.
Hope to see you there!
*I refuse to call it Seattle Center. Dumbest name EVAR, especially for something that is decidedly off-center from downtown.
Posted by Maria Brumm at 7:58 AM • 3 Comments
September 26, 2008
Category: Planetary Science
Like so many moments of culinary inspiration, this plum clafoutis is nothing like what I was thinking of prior to actually wandering into the kitchen to make dinner.
I was going to make pancake dome pancakes.
Pancake domes are features on Venus. They are so named because they look like pancakes:
Actually, they are volcanoes.
It would be trivial to make a batch of ordinary pancakes, point out the uncanny resemblance, and call it a day; it would also be cheating. Pancake dome pancakes should erupt. This, from Stofan et al. 2000 1, is roughly the mechanism I wanted:
Moreover, I wanted to do this with ingredients I had on hand that needed to be used up. This led me to think of using kale leaves to encourage the formation of a central vent, with some kind of watery homemade applesauce concoction as the lava. Except I wasn't sure about getting the applesauce to boil and erupt before the bottom of the pancake burned - maybe it would help if I used vodka and/or egg and/or baking soda and vinegar in the applesauce? With more kale on the bottom?
The longer I thought about it, the more delicious the pancake dome pancakes became - and by "delicious" I mean "horrifying".
Read on »
Posted by Maria Brumm at 5:38 PM • 11 Comments
September 24, 2008
Category: Gender
Welcome to the 65th biweekly showcase of the feminist blogosphere! Here's just a taste of what's inside:
Owning privilege is not about feeling ashamed, it is about acknowledging the benefits that one receives without having to work for them.
And now today an excited colleague announced that he had just discovered this totally new concept on the internet: white privilege! Even though I've been teaching the idea for over a decade, and it's even discussed in our textbook, it was news to him.
Not a lesbian, not homosexual, but 'gay' with such venom I swear her eyes turned red, smoke came charging out of her ears and she was probably trying to get god to strike me down to hell where I stood.
Given that, one would have to wonder, what would a chimp do with human breasts?
But First: Internet Community Service
This is from Zuska:
I received an email from Dr. Kimberly Fairchild, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Manhattan College, asking for help in recruiting participants for a survey she is conducting. Kimberly is interested in the relationship between early experiences with catcalling and current experiences. The survey she is currently conducting is an extension of her dissertation work. The survey is women-only, completely voluntary, and should only take about 20 minutes to complete. Kimberly has promised to report back to me with the final results next spring, so hopefully I can share them with you here.
If you would like to participate, the link is here. Please remember this is for women only and is voluntary. Kimberly asks me to thank any of you who are willing to take time to participate in this short survey. If you have any comments about the survey, they should be sent to
stranger DOT harassment DOT survey AT gmail DOT com
Please do NOT post them in the comments here, so as not taint others' responses.
And if you are a woman who has left the academic science pipeline after completing a Ph.D., Shelly Heller wants you.
Read on »
Posted by Maria Brumm at 6:08 PM • 9 Comments
Maria Brumm has a Master's degree... in Science! She wrote her thesis on 
