Earth Science
Category archives for Earth Science
Carbon Dioxide Totally Harmless????
Posted by Greg Laden on April 23, 2009 Educator alert: The best example of the Naturalistic Fallacy EVAH!!!! The money quote is…. “Carbon Dioxide is Natural. It is not harmful. It is part of earth’s life cycle. And yet we are being told we have to reduce this natural substance, and reduce the american standard of living, to create an arbitrary reduction in…
Wither The Water, Fox News?
Posted by Greg Laden on April 21, 2009 Monica sent me a link to a Faux News story on global warming, which makes the claim that global warming is not real because ice is expanding, and not contracting, in Antarctica. It also makes the claim that 90 percent of the earth’s ice and 80 percent of the earth’s fresh water is in Antarctica,…
The Ice Ages Matter (Even Today)
Posted by Greg Laden on April 4, 2009 A very large percentage of the earth’s land masses were covered by glacial ice during the last glaciation. Right now it is about 10%, but during the Ice Age it was much more. Enough of the earth’s water was trapped in this glacial ice that the oceans were about 120 to 150 meters lower than…
Don’t Take O2 for Granted
Posted by Greg Laden on March 22, 2009 There has always been Oxygen on the earth, but it was not floating around free in the atmosphere as it is today (most of it still isn’t). Indeed, it is kind of strange that the earth is blanketed in a mixture of toxic, corrosive liquid (water) and equally corrosive gas (the oxygen in the atmosphere).…
The Greening
Posted by Greg Laden on March 14, 2009 Spring is an ecological phenomenon of weather and biota linked to orbital geometry. More importantly, spring is here, as of this very moment, in Anoka County, Minnesota.
A most amazing set of spoor
Posted by Greg Laden on March 10, 2009 Dino spoor, that is. A recently reported finding in PLoS ONE clarifies a number of questions about how certain dinosaurs held their front limbs (zombie/Frankenstein-position palm-down vs. huggie-wuggie palms-facing-each-other). This research confirms … that early theropods, like later birds, held their palms facing medially, in contrast to … prints previously attributed to theropods that have…
Life on Mars?
Posted by Greg Laden on March 4, 2009 A computer model of the formation of Olympus Mons (a big giant mountain on Mars) indicates that this geological formation should contain pockets of water. The scientists explained that their finding is more implication than revelation. “What we were analyzing was the structure of Olympus Mons, why it’s shaped the way it is,” said McGovern,…
‘Pre-Existing Condition’ Fueled Killer Cyclone
Posted by Greg Laden on February 26, 2009 A “pre-existing condition” in the North Indian Ocean stoked the sudden intensification of last year’s Tropical Cyclone Nargis just before its devastating landfall in Burma, according to a new NASA/university study. The cyclone became Burma’s worst natural disaster ever and one of the deadliest cyclones of all time.
When is Tornado Season?
Posted by Greg Laden on February 22, 2009 This story: 10 tornadoes confirmed in Ga., including one with winds topping 160 mph Ten tornadoes, one packing winds of more than 160 mph, touched down in parts of Georgia on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said Friday. The storms caused an estimated $25 million in insured losses, said John W. Oxendine, the state’s insurance…
What I Had for Dinner Last Night
Posted by Greg Laden on February 13, 2009 Last night I had some grapes, some artichoke dip on bread, some cheese and crackers, and some Merlot in a plastic cup. Which can only mean one thing: I was at a catered event! Indeed, it was the Darwin Day celebration at the Bell Museum. There was Darwin Cake and the opening of two exhibits,…
Earthquake Triggering of Mud Volcanoes
Posted by Greg Laden on February 10, 2009 A quick note for those of you interested in mud volcanoes (and I know there are many of you). From an article titled “Earthquake Triggering of Mud Volcanoes” by Magna et al we learn that … Mud volcanoes sometimes erupt within days after nearby earthquakes. The number of such nearly coincident events is larger than…
Charles Darwin and the Rain Forest
Posted by Greg Laden on February 5, 2009 The first time I read the following passage from The Voyage, I was reminded of my own first experience in a rain forest (in Zaire, not Congo). Evident in this passage is at least a glimmering of Darwin’s appreciation for the complexity of ecosystems. Darwin could be considered the first scientific ecologist. But enough of…
Darwin Crossing The Atlantic
Posted by Greg Laden on February 5, 2009 Behold this humble passage by Darwin, which is what immediately follows his discussion of the octopus. This passage is a touchstone to several important aspects of what Darwin was doing and thinking, and is a poignant link to what Darwin did not know:
Did Triceratops fight with their faces?
Posted by Greg Laden on February 4, 2009 Or, more accurately, did these dinosaurs either engage in intraspecific combat (such as territorial or mating contests among males) or fight predators such as Tyrannosaurs, like in the movies? Well, one thing we know for sure: If any folklore, belief, or ‘fact’ related to a fossil species sits around long enough, eventually someone will come…
Amazing Fossil Finding: Proto Whales Gave Birth on Land, not at sea
Posted by Greg Laden on February 3, 2009 An article released moments ago in PLoS ONE, by Gingerich et al., describes one of the more interesting fossil discoveries ever. To cut right to the conclusion: We now have reason to believe that the proto-whale Maiacetus inuus, a true transitional form, gave birth on land, not in the water. Artist’s conception of male Maiacetus…
The Moon Had a Spinning Liquid Core
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2009 There are several things that can cause a magnetic signal to form in a rock (and this depends a lot on the rock). One is simply residing on a magnetic planet, like the earth. The other is being shocked by having, for instance, a meteor strike nearby. Another is heating from some other source. Many…
Global Warming, the Blog Epic ~ 07 ~ Sea Level Change
Posted by Greg Laden on January 17, 2009 This is the seventh in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. This installment is about sea level rise and fall, in the past. Sea level change that results from the formation and melting of glaciers not only has an enormous impact on the physical nature of the landscape, but it also would…
Global Warming, the Blog Epic ~ 05 ~ Causes of Large Scale Change
Posted by Greg Laden on January 16, 2009 This is the fifth in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. During the 1970s and 80s, creationists had a long list of reasons to doubt evolution, and every one of those reasons was wrong. But they had so many reasons, and it was so hard to keep track of them all, each…
Global Warming, the Blog Epic ~ 04 ~ Forcing
Posted by Greg Laden on January 15, 2009 This is the fourth in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. “Climate Studies” is a “causal” science. Most sciences are “causal” in nature, which is why the sciences and scientists are often loathed and distrusted by people in the humanities and some of the soft sciences. There is not the time or…
Global Warming, the Blog Epic ~ 03 ~ Carbon Dioxide
Posted by Greg Laden on January 15, 2009 This is the third in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. Why It Matters What you Burn and When you Burn It Carbon Dioxide is a deadly poison. It is about 50% heavier than air, so where it occurs in density, in mines or certain natural vents associated with volcanics, it can…
Global Warming, the Blog Epic ~ 02 ~ Greenhouse Effect, Greenhouse Gas
Posted by Greg Laden on January 14, 2009 This is the second in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. Why Greenhouses have nothing to do with the Greenhouse Effect, and more importantly, why CAN’T I microwave toast? A greenhouse is a glass house that is sealed to keep air in and insulated to keep heat in but at the same…
The Greg Layer
Posted by Greg Laden on January 12, 2009 The previous story, about the Volcanic eruption of the Rwenzori Mountains a few kilometers from our camp (“Fire on the Mountain“), actually occurred AFTER the story I’m about to tell. But I’m telling them out of sequence as a matter of character development. (The complexity of the real life situation significantly exceeds the complexity of…
The Fantastic Mystery of the Younger Dryas
Posted by Greg Laden on January 11, 2009 One of the most interesting and exciting stories in science is that of the Younger Dryas. The Younger Dryas was a climate event that had important effects on human history, and that has been reasonably linked to some of our most important cultural changes, and ultimately some evolutionary changes as well. That is one reason…
Yellowstone Earthquakes Return
Posted by Greg Laden on January 11, 2009 Just as unexpectedly as when the last swarm started, and just as unexpectedly as when the last swarm stopped, there is a new swarm. Verifying my initial statement: At least at some levels, the experts don’t have much of a clue about these things. Not their fault. It’s just that there is not that much…
Pink Iguanas and Disappearing Islands
Posted by Greg Laden on January 6, 2009 It turns out that a recently discovered population of land iguanas on the Galapagos is probably a new species that represents the basal (original) form of Galapagos land iguana. Moreover, this iguana is found in an unexpected place, according to a paper just coming out in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).…
How fast does evolution happen?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 30, 2008 … and other matters. The following list represents widely held beliefs, either first order beliefs (things you hear people say) or second order beliefs (things implied directly by what people say):
Catch a caffeine buzz, save the planet
Posted by Greg Laden on December 15, 2008 Researchers in Nevada are reporting that waste coffee grounds can provide a cheap, abundant, and environmentally friendly source of biodiesel fuel for powering cars and trucks. … [The authors] note that the major barrier to wider use of biodiesel fuel is lack of a low-cost, high quality source, or feedstock, for producing that new energy…
The Carnival of Evolution #3
Posted by Greg Laden on October 1, 2008 Welcome to the Third Edition of the Carnival of Evolution. The previous edition of this web log ‘carnival of the vanities’ was at Jason Rosenhouse’s Evolution Blog. The next edition will be written by Mike (TUIBG) and hosted here, at Clashing Cultures. Please submit your web posts on Evolution for the next carnival, which is…
Aerosteon riocoloradensis: A Very Cool Dinosaur from Argentina
Posted by Greg Laden on September 29, 2008 Fossils of a newly discovered species of dinosaur — a 10-meter-long, elephant-weight predator — were discovered in 1996 along the banks of Argentina’s Rio Colorado, and are now being reported after a long period of careful study. This dinosaur dates to about 85 million years (which falls within the Cretaceous period). Perhaps the most interesting…
, which is now available for the 
