Chris Rowan is a geologist specialising in the dark arts of paleomagnetism, and getting people to pay him to travel to exotic destinations for fieldwork. Having drilled up New Zealand during his PhD, and South Africa in his first post-doc, he now works at the University of Edinburgh.
Anne Jefferson has a love of all things water-related and blends hydrology, geomorphology, geology, and climate change in her work. She has a Ph.D. from Oregon State University and is now an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
I have, in the past, tried to explain how the Earth's magnetic field is generated by convection in the Earth's molten outer core. Here, in Scotland, however, it seems that they have their own ideas (sorry for the poor picture quality):
If you've never experienced the excessively scary orangeness of Irn Bru, Scotland's other natural drink, then you've missed out on supping a heady brew that probably contains more additives than water. Perhaps, then, the magnetic field is merely a side-effect of a planetary interior stimulated into hyperactivity by all the artificial colourings.
Comments
I remember that stuff (as well as "Tizer", from further south...)
As I recall, the flavor of "Irn Bru" is almost identical to that of "Juicy Fruit" gum.
Posted by: Epicanis | December 10, 2009 1:44 PM
In fact, the flavour of Irn Bru is absolutely identical to having a nosebleed, or possibly biting your tongue badly...
Posted by: Julia | December 10, 2009 2:30 PM
Yes, but they included the transition zone, so they get a free pass on taste and are automatically awesome.
Posted by: Lab Lemming | December 11, 2009 12:52 AM
Irn Bru is an excellent example of convergent evolution - it goes perfectly with the Deep Fried Mars Bar.
ps: Chris - When are you going to blog about Bagging your first Munro?
Posted by: J-Dog | December 11, 2009 3:32 PM
Is a "Munro" a peak whose altitude is at least half the elevation of Chris's previous office?
Posted by: Lab Lemming | December 13, 2009 5:49 AM
@J-Dog - I already have. Although I'm not really a dedicated bagger - I'm not a checklist sort of person, and there's plenty of fine walks in Scotland that's don't require you getting above 914 m.
@Lab Lemming - that's a good definition!
Posted by: Chris Rowan | December 13, 2009 6:50 AM
Slainte!
Well I think they got the fluid inner core and the non-fluid core shell right.
Posted by: DD | December 13, 2009 8:03 PM
There is a likely unintentional joke in there for dynamo people.
An imaginary cylinder which just touches the inner core at the equator and is coaxial with the rotation axis of the earth is called the "tangent cylinder". It has big effects on fluid motions in the core because the earth is rapidly rotating. It is labelled in this diagram:
http://scienceblogs.com/highlyallochthonous/2008/03/dynamo.jpg
but in reality it is a 3d cylinder.
Anyways, the beer can looks alot like the tangent cylinder. Taylor-Proudman be damned, it is really a big beer can that is causing the tangent cylinder effects.
Posted by: Ryan | December 18, 2009 2:09 PM