Archaeopteryx lithogaphica is probably the most iconic dinosaur ever. When it was first discovered, it was heralded as the holy grail of palaeontological findings, as it helped to consolidate the evolutionary continuum between theropod dinosaurs and modern birds. What it also represents though, is an example of the evolution of scientific thought through time. Palaeontologists, mechanists and deve ...[Read More]
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Geology for Global Development
GfGD News: Student Forum with the Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction
The ‘Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction’ (IRDR), headed up by Professor Peter Sammonds, is based at University College London (UCL). UCL’s GfGD University group hosted a student forum at the end of October in collaboration with the IRDR. This was a chance for students to engage with people from academic backgrounds and NGOs to share ideas on student placements in the development sector and ...[Read More]
GeoSphere
It’s all about scales
It has often been said that geology is the study of scales. Time scales, large scales, small scales and many others. Indeed, one of the most crucial parts of any photo or map is the scale. Furthermore, geologic concepts can be applied from the planet scale to the atomic scale and every size in between. What confuses most people though is not only do we work in terms of huge size/magnitude variatio ...[Read More]
VolcanicDegassing
Polygons, columns and joints
Over on her Georney‘s blog, Evelyn Mervine has recently posted a nice piece with some spectacular images of columnar jointing. This seemed like a good opportunity to dust off some field photos, with some more examples of polygonal joint sets in lavas from a variety of settings, to illustrate the diversity of forms that cooling-contraction joints may take in volcanic rocks. The first example ...[Read More]
Green Tea and Velociraptors
Geoscience in the news
This is the fourth part of a series looking at how we should effectively communicate geoscience, based largely on a recent paper by Iain Stewart and Ted Nield. The previous post attempted to address the insanely impossible question of ‘who are the public?’, when it comes to public engagement’. It seems that this is very much a disciplinary issue, each with their own collective su ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Imaggeo on Mondays: Gullfoss, Iceland
For anyone who spent the 1980s jamming to British band Echo & the Bunnymen, this is a familiar sight. The cover of their third studio album, Porcupine (1983), features the band nonchalantly standing in front of the gushing white foam of Iceland’s Gullfoss waterfall. Mentioned in local written stories and beamed across the world in music videos, the Gullfoss falls occupy a mythical place in hum ...[Read More]
GeoSphere
Geology Photo of the Week # 12 – Nov 18-24
Check out this beauty! AMAZING. Those crystals are a few centimetres in size, flawless and have a great colour. Unfortunately, I don’t remember where it came from. I know, I know, this is the cardinal sin, so I apologize for that. I hope you enjoy looking at it all the same. Cheers, Matt
Green Tea and Velociraptors
Peering into dinosaur skulls – the best application for medical technology
Most of what we know about dinosaurs comes from their skeletal remains. Rarely, we get tiny glimpses into their soft tissue anatomy through skin impressions and even rarer, preserved tissue fragments, mummified over time, and their ecology and life habits through combining interpretation of this from what we can glean from trace fossils (footprints, poop, etc.). Palaeontologists are also taking th ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Guest Blog: Earthquakes in the Steppes of Central Asia
Tim Middleton is a first year PhD student in the Department of Earth Science at Oxford University – studying active tectonics in central and eastern Asia. He has recently joined the GfGD National Committee as our Advocacy Development Officer. Here, Tim describes his experience of fieldwork in Kazakhstan and the importance of studying the landscape to assess the risk of future disasters. Tim ...[Read More]
Green Tea and Velociraptors
Who the devil are this ‘public’ everyone keeps rambling on about?
The last two posts in this series, based on a recent paper by Ted Nield and Iain Stewart, addressed the issues of why should scientists bother communicating, and what do people in general already know about science, and geoscience in particular. Oddly, these are the most fundamental questions when it comes to science communication, but often can be the most difficult to answer. They either require ...[Read More]