Earth-logs
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Earth-logs has been covering significant advances in the geosciences since 2000, commenting on over 1500 articles in leading scientific journals. The posts are limited to 1000 words in language accessible to both students and the 'interested lay person'.
Earth-logs
4d ago
In the 1950s Harold Urey of the University of Chicago and his student Stanley Miller used basic lab glassware containing 200 ml of water and a mix of the gases methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3) and… More ..read more
Earth-logs
3w ago
Until this year, the earliest date recorded for the presence of humans in Europe came from the Sierra de Atapuerca in the Province of Burgos, northern Spain. The Sima del Elefante cave yielded a fossil… More ..read more
Earth-logs
1M ago
In 1976 three scientists from Columbia and Brown (USA) and Cambridge (UK) Universities published a paper that revolutionised the study of ancient climates (Hays J.D., Imbrie J. and Shackleton N.J. 1976. Variations in the Earth’s… More ..read more
Earth-logs
1M ago
The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) issues guidance for the division of geological history that has evolved from the science’s original approach: that was based solely on what could be seen in the field. That… More ..read more
Earth-logs
1M ago
The Cryogenian Period that lasted from 860 to 635 million years ago is aptly named, for it encompassed two maybe three episodes of glaciation. Each left a mark on every modern continent and extended from… More ..read more
Earth-logs
2M ago
February 2024 was a notable month for discoveries about ancient technology: first that of an ancient tool probably used in rope making and now signs of the use of a composite ‘plastic’ material in stone-tool… More ..read more
Earth-logs
2M ago
Climate during the last Ice Age was continually erratic. Generally fine-grained muds cored from the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean show repeated occurrences of layers containing gravelly debris. These have been ascribed to periods… More ..read more
Earth-logs
2M ago
Even at my age, if I rummage through pockets of various bits of outdoor clothing there’s a good chance I’ll find a handy length of string that I have scavenged at some time. It’s a… More ..read more
Earth-logs
3M ago
Michael Rampino and Ken Caldeira of New York University and the Carnegie Institute have for at least three decades been at the forefront of studies into mass extinctions and their possible causes, including flood-basalt volcanism,… More ..read more
Earth-logs
3M ago
There may still be a few people around today who, like Aristotle did, reckon that frogs form from May dew and that maggots and rats spring into life spontaneously from refuse. But the idea that… More ..read more