In three days’ time, NASA’s InSight Lander is expected to plunge through Mars’ atmosphere before parachuting down to a controlled landing on the flat plains of the Elysium Planitia. Once the dust has settled, a solar powered robotic arm will painstakingly unload the precious instruments stored onboard onto the planet’s surface, carefully guided by scientists back on Earth. These instruments are de ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: On the way to Tristan’s penguins
Tristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic island in the south Atlantic Ocean. In fact, it is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world. Tristan is still volcanically active; the last time it erupted was in 1961. After the eruption, which luckily did not have any casualties, the whole population of around 260 people evacuated the island for some time, but they all returned back to the island b ...[Read More]
Geology is boring, right? What?! NO! Why scientists should communicate geoscience
From the highest reaches of the atmosphere to the deepest caverns below, the geosciences is a fascinating field dedicated to understanding just how the Earth (and other worlds) tick. But to many people, the Earth, planetary and space sciences are far from interesting or important. So how can geoscientists share their enthusiasm with the public? Catherine Pennington, an engineering geologist and sc ...[Read More]
A better framework for disasters
The end of the Northern hemisphere summer tends to be a good time to regroup from natural hazards, as the frequency and intensity of storms, as well as the incidence of wildfires, tends to trail off. At the time of writing, however, Hurricane Willa had just crashed into Mexico, while Typhoon Yutu has just hit the Northern Mariana Islands so hard that any equipment designed to record wind-speed had ...[Read More]