Science in the News

Teachable Moment from IRIS - Magnitude 7.8 Southwest of Sumatra, Indonesia

IRIS

March 2, 2016  --  IRIS does an excellent job collecting and preparing resources we can use in our classrooms on recent, significant earthquakes. Check out their PowerPoint, visualizations and animations on a 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred 800 km off the west coast of southern Sumatra, Indonesia, as a result of strike ­slip faulting within the mantle lithosphere of the Indo-­Australia Plate. 

IRIS page: http://www.iris.edu/hq/retm/4022

EARTH Magazine: Urban Geology - An Emerging Discipline in an Increasingly Urbanized World

EARTH Magazine

From EARTH Magazine, 03/01/2016  --  More than half of the total human population on Earth lives in urban areas, where, like rural areas, geology affects us every day. Yet when we think about "geology," most of us think of the hinterlands. That needs to change, argue the authors of a new feature in EARTH Magazine discussing what the role of urban geology is, what it can be and the potential role geoscience organizations can play in curating the geologic data revealed during construction, excavations and surveys.

EARTH Magazine: Slipping Point - Snow Scientists Dig In to Decipher Avalanche Triggers

EARTH Magazine

From EARTH Magazine, 02/22/2016  --  As skiers hit the slopes this winter, EARTH Magazine explores the science of how to keep them and other winter explorers safe. Every year, hundreds of people are killed by avalanches. Understanding the science of the frozen environment is only part of this story; communicating the risk is a field as dynamic as the weather systems and terrains that foster avalanches.

Listen Current: Space Waves

From Listen Current, 02/21/2016  --  Scientists recently announced a huge discovery—gravitational waves. The waves were detected when a collision of two black holes created ripples or waves, similar to ripples on a pond. These ripples were predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago as a part of his theory of relativity. Scientists have been working to detect these waves for decades and are excited about the information that can be learned from them. In this story you will hear what gravitational waves sound like and learn more about their discovery.

EARTH Magazine: Revealing Potential Tsunami Inundation on California Coast

EARTH Magazine

From EARTH Magazine, 02/17/2016  --  Tsunami hazard maps exist for California coastlines, but recent geological studies indicated some faults may be capable of unleashing more powerful quakes than previously thought. Given this new information, researchers at the University of California Riverside wondered if the current tsunami hazard maps adequately predict inundation zones, or if they need to be updated.

EARTH Magazine: Permian-Triassic Extinctions Timed Differently on Land and at Sea

From EARTH Magazine, 02/04/2016  -- The largest mass extinction - on land or sea - occurred some 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian Period. Generally attributed to extensive flood basalt volcanism in Siberia, the extinction event nearly eradicated life on Earth. New research looking at rocks associated with the terrestrial extinction suggests that the terrestrial extinction started prior to the marine extinction. If true,  Siberian volcanism alone could not account for the extinctions. 

EARTH Magazine: How to Feed 11 Billion People

EARTH Magazine

From EARTH Magazine, 01/26/2016  --  The challenge of feeding our planet's growing population is one of critical importance - it will perhaps be the most important challenge of the 21st century. As the human population continues to rise, geoscience is informimg experts, suggesting major shifts in agriculture must be taken to prevent rampant food insecurity by the year 2050.

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