(Read to the end of this post for an update on studies and events around high-temperature geothermal opportunities in Canada) The data is old — dating back to 1985 and earlier — but the Geological Survey of Canada is beginning to put together an inventory of geothermal resources across t...

Says here that sex came along at least 365 billion years ago....

The problem with “grass roots” as a metaphor is that it reduces its contributors to the miniscopic. Not microscopic, because then you couldn’t see them without a microscope. But miniscopic, meaning they’re small. You have to get down on all fours to eyeball them and say hi. S...

Oceanic sinks and feedbacks to climate change are as variable and hard to measure as their terrestrial counter parts. The oceans are in equilibrium with the partial pressure of CO2 in seawater balanced by its concentration in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is transferred into the atmosphere when i...

The reason is that photography can't always pick up what's important. Sometimes the light is just not right in the field. You can take a photo from all different angles, use the flash to fill-in a shadow, not use the flash to prevent washing out, cast your shadow over a bit... and nothing will get t...

Not long ago as geology goes — nine, ten, twelve millennia — one of the world’s largest lakes covered most of Minnesota, plus much of North Dakota, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario and a corner of South Dakota. It’s called Lake Agassiz, named after the scientist Louis Agassiz,...

One-Sided Magnets, Ballsy Mice, Algae Genes, Blowing Hard, Cosmic Extremes, Froggy Discoveries, and the Minion Mailbag....

Dr. Free-Ride: What have you been learning about in science this school year? Younger offspring: Lots of stuff. Dr. Free-Ride: Like what? Younger offspring: We learned about rocks and minerals. Rocks are made out of minerals, and some rocks have more than one kind of mineral in them. Dr. Free-Ride: ...

We’ve had several posts about the creationist fanatics in Texas who are trying to push creationism/intelligent design/whatever into public school biology classes, but biology isn’t the only field they’re attacking. Earth and Space Science (ESS) courses are now a target as well, bec...

You would be walking across the smooth folds of pahoehoe lava, not a-a lava. Idiot....