minerals
dr. dolittle | June 27, 2013Dogs, like people, are susceptible to a form of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) known as canine compulsive disorder (CCD). In fact, the news story at the end of this blog describes CCD and also discusses a form of OCD in Siamese and Persian cats that is related to stress.
A prior study suggested that dogs are good models for OCD in humans since their physiology is similar and they share the same environment as humans. Dr. Hannes Lohi (University of Helsinki) and colleagues found that dogs who received vitamin and mineral supplements were less likely to exhibit CCD (measured as excessive…
eklemetti | July 5, 2010Serpentine (as known as serpentinite), the current (and potentially soon-to-be ex-) state rock of California.
This does not have a direct connection to volcanoes, but it sure is about geology and the science in the news. State Senator Gloria Romero of California has sponsored a bill to change the California state rock from serpentine because, as she claims:
"[Serpentine] contains the deadly mineral chrysotile asbestos, a known carcinogen, exposure to which increases the risk of the cancer mesothelioma ... California should not designate a rock known to be toxic to the health of its residents…
khannula | July 6, 2009One of the tricky things to convey about rocks, especially in a lecture or in a textbook, is the way geologists can see such different things at different scales - from thousands of kilometers to a few micrometers - and the way that all those observations fit together to understanding the processes that shape the Earth. Static photos, whether on paper or projected onto a screen or on a computer, don't convey all the information that one can get from a single outcrop - standing back from it, climbing up close to it, crawling over it with a hand lens. (And that's leaving out the perspective of…
khannula | July 1, 2009If you haven't been reading Photo Synthesis, which features a series of science photographers... well, you've been missing out. The latest photographer, BJ Bolender, has a series of gorgeous mineral photos from rock and mineral shows in Arizona. Go look!
(I've been out of town at a family wedding. I'm back now, but I've got a lot of e-mails to read before I get back to blogging...)