Following Science in Public 2013 I had the pleasure of talking to Catharina Landström about the social and technical challenges to the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste… Could you introduce yourself and let us know what propelled you into a project looking at the issues surrounding geological disposal of radioactive waste? Specialising in Science …[Read More]
Latest posts
Building Scientific Technical Capacity in Developing Countries
The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology POSTnote Number 216 discusses the importance of building ‘Scientific Capacity in Developing Countries’. In short, this highlights how science and technology can play an important role in fighting poverty, disease and environmental degradation, and yet the numbers of researchers in the developing world falls well below other areas of …[Read More]
Eyeing up the weather on distant super-Earths
At the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan’s (NAOJ) Subaru Telescope has been turning its attention to distant worlds. Latest reports of blue-light observations from the telescope indicate that a super-Earth called Gilese 1214b (GJ 1214 b) appears to have a water-rich atmosphere. GJ 1214 b sits forty light years …[Read More]
No Daily Mail, a 230 million year old amphibian is not a dinosaur..
The Daily Fail have struck again, this time the poor victim being the rather cool fossil, Metoposaurus diagnosticus. Metoposaurus is an amphibious, er, amphibian from Germany, Italy, Poland and Portugal, and a member of a group called temnospondyls. However, three times in an article published yesterday, the innocent amphibian is labeled as a ‘dinosaur’ – what did it …[Read More]
Introducing The 10 minute Interview!
The Ten Minute Interview is a feature we will run regularly as part of our blog. Dan and I feel passionate about promoting the work of Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and also all the people behind the scenes who actually make research happen. The unsung heroes of our labs if you like; technicians and support …[Read More]
Kenya’s rumbling volcanoes
In the Kenyan Rift, where volcanoes are numerous, satellite observations have identified ground deformation at a number of volcanic centers. Radar images reveal that shallow magma systems may be active under at least four of the volcanoes in Kenya, but whether the signals are driven by an influx of new magma remains to be determined. …[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Lime Pancakes
These are the Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki, on the west coast of New Zealand. They are made of limestone that was deposited as calcifying organisms fell to their fate on the sea floor about 30 million years ago. Since then, the limestone has been uplifted, exposed, and eroded by the wind and the sea. Each …[Read More]
Geologists as a social stigma?
So I was browsing for content for future blog posts the other day, and came across this video from Friends (the show people of my era grew up with). Ross is a palaeontologist, so naturally one of the coolest, smartest and sexiest of all the science breeds, but takes a little dig at geologists here …[Read More]
Dealing with Disasters / 4th Conference of the International Society for Integrated Disaster Risk Management
This week (4-6th September 2013) a major conference is talking place at Northumbria University in Newcastle, with a focus on disaster risk reduction and disaster management. The conference, Dealing with Disasters Conference / 4th Conference of the International Society for Integrated Disaster Risk Management, will explore the theme ‘From Opportunity to Action: Bridging the Gap between …[Read More]
‘Meat was so sixty million years agAAAGHH…’
Some dinosaurs were utterly bizarre. You may have heard of them before, but one particular group called therizinosaurs belonged to the meat-eating theropod dinosaurs (those that led to birds), were really awesome. However, they actually at some point made a conscious evolutionary decision to stop being badasses, and become Cretaceous-cauliflower* munching pansies.