Water Collection – Chato District, Tanzania Some of these women and children in Tanzania had been waiting at these small holes for 5 hours for enough water to seep through the ground to fill their buckets. Understanding enough geoscience to consider (i) changing groundwater levels at different times of the year and (ii) different geological material permeabilities, could have helped remove t ...[Read More]
WaterUnderground
Reducing water scarcity possible by 2050
Press release from McGill University of our research published yesterday in Nature Geoscience. Water scarcity is not a problem just for the developing world. In California, legislators are currently proposing a $7.5 billion emergency water plan to their voters; and U.S. federal officials last year warned residents of Arizona and Nevada that they could face cuts in Colorado River water deliveries i ...[Read More]
GeoLog
GeoCinema Online: The Geological Storage of CO2
Welcome to week two of GeoCinema Screenings! In a time when we can’t escape the fact that anthropogenic emissions are contributing to the warming of the Earth, we must explore all the options to reduce the impact of releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The three films this week tackle the challenge of separating CO2 from other emissions and then storing it in geological formations deep ...[Read More]
Seismology
Scientists and the social network
Nature just blew the bubble! Last month an article entitled Online collaboration: Scientists and the social network, by Richard Van Noorden, put focus on the role social media has on scholars. The article gives a detailed insight on the attitude of scientist towards social media by discussing the various existing platforms such as Google Scholar, ResearchGate, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and othe ...[Read More]
Soil System Sciences
Mediterranean Environmental Research Group (GRAM)
By Marc Oliva The Mediterranean Environmental Research Group, (GRAM) from the University of Barcelona has over 20 years of working experience in the field of the effects of forest fires on soil properties. In 1998 the doctoral thesis entitled “Fire effects on soil properties, the role of fire intensity” carried out by Xavier Úbeda emphasized the importance of fire intensity impa ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Imaggeo on Mondays: The Valley of the Souls
Simon Gascoin captured this image of the badlands of the Palca canyon. The Palca canyon is located near the city of La Paz, Bolivia. Like much of the geology in the vicinity of La Paz, the canyon comprises mainly unconsolidated glacial formations, which are highly susceptible to wind and water erosion. The imposing spires, which can reach up to 200m in height, are fluvioglacial deposits that resul ...[Read More]
Green Tea and Velociraptors
The Society for Neuroscience receiving both barrels
Apologies for the third post about open access publishing in a row. Normal service will resume shortly! I wanted to bring attention to a second open letter published, inspired by our first one to the Association for the Advancement of American Science (AAAS). This letter was aimed at a smaller society, the Society for Neuroscience, and spearheaded by Erin McKiernan, who was also a signatory on the ...[Read More]
GeoLog
GeoTalk: Meet Anna Rabitti, winner of I’m a Geoscientist, Get me out of here!
Earlier this year we ran the first ever I’m a Geoscientist, Get me out of here! event, an online chat-based game show in which school kids vote for their favourite geoscience communicators. In this week’s GeoTalk, Sara Mynott talks to Anna Rabitti, an oceanography PhD student and winner of this year’s I’m a Geoscientist… First, for those who haven’t been following I’m a Geoscientist, can y ...[Read More]
Green Tea and Velociraptors
Continuing the battle for open access that’s good for science, not publishers’ profits
Two developments since the last post regarding open access things for anyone interested! First, is a little interview I had with the Open Access Button folk about er, open access: http://blog.openaccessbutton.org/2014/08/19/every-time-you-hit-a-paywall-thats-a-publisher-announcing-that-their-role-is-to-prohibit-the-progress-of-science-as-much-as-possible/ Second, is that our open letter to the AAA ...[Read More]
GeoLog
GeoEd: The Future’s Bright
What got you hooked to science in the first place? More importantly, what or who persuaded you that making science your career was, not only worth considering, but should be actively pursed? I’m sure, I am preaching to the converted; we all think science is not only cool, but a worthwhile and rewarding career path; so why is it that we can’t enthuse the younger generations that it is the case too? ...[Read More]