Geobulletin alpha

Exceptional Preservation of the Eye of an Arthropod from the Jurassic 

Exceptional preservation of eye structure in arthropod visual predators from the Middle Jurassic. 2016 Image: Earth Archives Zoologists have succeeded in discovering the internal structure of an approximately 160 million year old compound eye of Dollocaris ingens from the Middle Jurassic. Abstract[edit]: We reconstruct with unprecedented resolution the three-dimensional structure of the

Dreams of Summer and Southwest Travels: Hole in the Wall, Mojave National Preserve 

Christmas is over and suddenly the snow and blizzards aren't so fun any more. I find myself dreaming of warmer places and times, including a great journey we took last summer across the southwest with my students. Since my current travels are over until February, I'm going to travel through the archives to check out some marvelous geology along our southwestern tier of states: Arizona,

Blog Break 

We’ll be taking a break from blogging for the next fortnight. Don’t forget you can find a wide range of articles in our archives on topics from water, hazards, disasters and

Deadline for the Colloquium on Historical EQs in the Rhine Graben postponed to 3 April 

Good news for the late birds – the abstracts deadline for the Colloquium on “Historical Earthquakes of the Rhine Graben and Interplate – Intraplate Continental Deformation: From archives to comparative seismotectonics” has been postponed to 3 April. The meeting will be held from 11-13 May 2015 in Strasbourg (Inst. de Physique du Globe). The second circular is out with more details on the programme, download the PDF

2nd Circular out now for the Colloquium on Historical EQs and Intraplate Tectonics in Strasbourg, May 2015 

The Colloquium on “Historical Earthquakes of the Rhine Graben and Interplate – Intraplate Continental Deformation: From archives to comparative seismotectonics” will be held from 11-13 May 2015 in Strasbourg (Inst. de Physique du Globe). The second circular is out now with more details on the programme, download the PDF here. Deadline for abstracts is 27 March

Door 5: Ghosts of the Museum – extra content 

For this year’s advent blogathon, the Society’s Archives present a collection of extra lessons from the eminent, but sadly shortlived ‘Magazine of Natural History’….       Last month, the Library held its second outreach event ‘Ghosts of the Museum’, … Continue reading

There’s (volcanic) dust in the archives 

There’s not much that beats the thrill of discovery.. particularly when it turns up in your own backyard.  This summer, I have been on the hunt for records and reports of the 1902 eruptions of St Vincent, a lush volcanic island in the Eastern Caribbean. There are indeed many reports from this eruption, carefully documented in

Blog Break 

Due to widespread commitments in other areas of our work – we’ll be taking a two-week break from regular blogging (although may publish occasional articles). You can find a wide range of articles in our archives, and will be back publishing new articles from the week beginning 26th

Door 16: The Geologist, the Monocled Lady and the Sultan: A Peek into Edwardian Middle Class Life 

One of the most enjoyable aspects of working in archives is being able to delve into the everyday lives of individuals. Material is often at its most rewarding when it’s personal, as in the case of two scrapbooks formerly belonging … Continue reading

The Disk Drive Which Can Save Data for One Million Years 

Back in 1956, IBM introduced the world’s first commercial computer capable of storing data on a magnetic disk drive. The IBM 305 RAMAC used fifty 24-inch discs to store up to 5 MB, an impressive feat in those days. Today, however, it’s not difficult to find hard drives that can store 1 TB of data on a single 3.5-inch disk. But despite this huge increase in storage density and a

From the Archives: To Develop Africa Needs God 

I came across a letter I wrote to the guardian in 2009 which was in response to an opinion piece. It hasn’t found a way to my blog all this while and 4 years certainly won’t be too late for an article like this. TO DEVELOP AFRICANS NEED GOD Sir, Leo Igwe’s article, ‘Africa needs … Continue reading

#overlyhonestmethods: You aren’t alone. 

The #overlyhonestmethods meme on Twitter was haled as amazing science communication, and fretted over as new potential source for public misconception of “Researchers are lazy,” and then, like all memes, it died out. And yet, it still has value. In the archives … Continue reading

Steve Gough speaks at Science Cafe this week. 

Steve will talk about flood science at the Carbondale Science Center's Science Cafe at 7pm Thursday September 27.  Flier here.He'll be interviewed on WSIU Radio at 8:15 am on Tuesday the 25th.Steve will discuss the science behind flood policy, including climate change and the 2011 floods that caused billions of dollars in damage on the Middle and Lower Mississippi.  He blogged extensively about the controversial Birds Point levee opening in May of 2011 (see May archives of this blog [...]

Euplocephalus 

Yet another picture pulled from the archives, but rather a nice one. Despite being really quite speciose (I was looking at a recent species list the other day and there were about as twice as many as I remembered there being), I’ve managed to give the ankylosaurs far too little coverage on here, in part

Lyme Regis Museum Fossil Festival Programme - May 5th and 6th 

FREE ENTRY TO OUR AWARD-WINNING MUSEUMSee superb fossils and William Buckland’s coprolite table. Discover the extraordinary story of Mary Anning and see archives that shed light on the geologists she associated with – this weekend only from Museum of Wales. SATURDAY and SUNDAY 10am-4pmAmmonite Polishing Polishing has never been this much fun – turn your ammonite into the most glittery fossil of all time, with help from Paddy, Chris, Harry and Ben.Small charge for the ammonite.  [...]

Sinornithosaurus details 

There’s no great purpose to this post, but it will become a little more relevant tomorrow with the follow-up so I thought it sensible to stick this in now. I have covered Sinornithosaurus a couple of times on here before since, well, it’s a great fossil (search the archives for various posts that mention it

3d viewing archives online? 

With all the progress in photogammetry going on (visit here, or at Heinrich’s for more) one wonders how the front end of all the created digital forms might look, how accessible and exchangeable the created meshes might be. Ideally, there would be a system accessible via internet without the need to install plugins, which would

Update from the Lake: Fall with a Bit of Color 

And I mean just a bit of color! On our last trip to the lake about mid-month, the leaves on our aspens had started turning, but they hadn't really gotten all that far.In fact, they were not quite as far along as they were at a similar time three years prior, so possibly this is fairly normal (I'd have to go deeper than the archives held in this blog or on my computer and pull out some

Climate Record In Cave Stalagmites 

“A 10,000-year-old weather report? Come on. That’s going a tad deep into the archives, isn’t it? Yet, that’s the untold story that caves on a South Pacific island are expected to reveal to a group of University of Alabama geologists.” Quoted from the University of Alabama research