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the cool thing about differential geometry...
I'm still reading Pollard and Fletcher (and I'm still in Chapter 2). And the cool thing about this is: I took linear algebra and differential equations and third semester calculus after I started studying structural geology, and I understood the math by imagining geologic shapes in my head. It may have kept me from being able to mentally deal with ( Read more... ) -
more on progress and women in geology
A month and a half ago, I asked geology about whether geology was still a male-dominated profession or not. Today, I checked who was registered for my sophomore mapping class, a gateway course into the major. Nine students. One woman. One woman.In my department, at least, there is no progress ( Read more... ) -
selling math to geology students... or not
I'm currently reading two books that have been making me think about geologists' attitudes toward math. One is Useless Arithmetic: Why Environmental Scientists Can't Predict the Future, by Orrin Pilkey and Linda Pilkey-Jarvis. It's an argument about the dangers of misusing math to find simplistic answers in applied geologic problems. The second is ( Read more... ) -
Supreme Court rules that EPA can regulate carbon dioxide
The Supreme Court of the US has just ruled 5-4 that the Environmental Protection Agency has the right to regulate CO2 emissions (NY Times storyThis is huge. The four dissenting justices (Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito) based their dissent on the standing of Massachusetts (and the other states) to bring the suit; they did not argue against the ( Read more... ) -
very old oceans
When I was an undergrad, the Archean - everything before than 2.5 billion years ago - was considered a mysterious and possibly very, very different time. The Earth's atmosphere was more like that of Saturn's moon Titan - it did not contain the free oxygen that we know, love, and breathe. There was no life. And the inside of the Earth was too hot ( Read more... ) -
geology and science fairs
I helped judge a science fair on Thursday. There were only ten entries in the Earth and Space Science category, from middle school and high school combined, so I ended up helping judge the 6th grade Environmental Science and Consumer Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science categories ( Read more... ) -
teaching: 3D glasses, free with every Journal of Geoscience Ed!
The January issue of the Journal of Geoscience Education has 3D (red/blue) glasses packaged with it. And a 3D map of Crater Lake on the front. And a giant, fold-out 3D map of the Four Corners states ( Read more... ) -
Women in Geology: Progress... or Not?
Two days ago, a male student asked whether it was all right to use the word "man" to refer to humans.
Yesterday, a female student asked whether a mining company would hire a woman to describe rock cores at a remote camp in Alaska.
( More about the two conversations, and how they reminded me of my own field experiences. ) -
seas of sand
You know, I hate hiking across sand. Step forward; slide back. Step forward; slide back. The wind picks up grains and drops them in my mouth, in my nose, in my eyes. The hot sun above is reflected from the hot sand below. After half an hour, I am mentally and physically exhausted ( Read more... ) -
the beauty of Mars
There are spectacular photos of Mars coming back from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter these days. (You may have seen the image from the cover of Science this week, showing a landscape that could easily be Utah.) The images are actually available from NASA on a clickable map. Always been curious about gullies in Noctus Labyrinthus? Well, they're ( Read more... )