The Copernican Geological Revolution
March 17, 2010
The Copernican Revolution did not just affect astronomy and physics: it revolutionized geology.
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Mars Discoveries Change Paradigms
March 15, 2010
Mars is under assault by an armada of orbiters gathering intell from the planet with photons and radar beams. What kind of information has been seized recently? Dry rivers: Remember the networks of river channels that were telltale signs of water? Remember the hope for life those images generated? Some of those riverbeds could have […]
Swinging at Saturn’s Moons: Keep Your Eye on the Ball
March 1, 2010
To avoid being misled by planetary scientists, keep your attention focused on the age issue.
Solomonic Wall in Jerusalem Announced
February 22, 2010
A large wall dating from the time of Solomon is being announced by the news media (see PhysOrg, Live Science and Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Archaeologist Eilat Mazar linked the structure, near the southeast end of the Temple Mount, to a Biblical passage in I Kings 3:1 that speaks of “until he (Solomon) had […]
Flabbergast: Primitive Human Ancestors Were Sailors
February 18, 2010
Could the headline be any more shocking if it read, “iPod found in King Tut’s tomb”? Heather Pringle began a report in National Geographic News with, “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.” Stone tools alleged to be up to 130,000 years old have been found on the island of Crete. Since Crete […]
March Moon Madness Arrives Early
February 16, 2010
Some of the most interesting bodies in the solar system are the objects not big enough to be called planets. Moons, asteroids and comets continue to yield their secrets and surprises. Here’s a quick rundown on recent findings. Why do some asteroids look so fresh? It’s because they get a facelift, Space.com reported […]
Incredible Preservation of Beetle Wings Found
February 9, 2010
Beetle wings with their original shimmering luster have been found preserved in fossilized peat in Japan. The strata in which they were found have been labeled middle Pleistocene and dated at 600,000 years old. Yet these same wings, when dried in the sun, lose their luster within hours. The authors of the paper […]
Computer Keeps Enceladus Old
January 11, 2010
There’s a new theory for how Enceladus can be so active but still be 4.5 billion years old. It erupts only every billion years or so. This was explained on PhysOrg. Heat builds up slowly then is “released as one catastrophic event around every billion years or so.” The scientists already knew that […]
Oldest Hebrew Text Deciphered
January 7, 2010
Finally, some news from the ancient Hebrew pottery inscription that was found in 2008 (11/16/2008, bullet 1). The inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa, dating from the time of David and Solomon, has been deciphered and announced on Yahoo News, PhysOrg, and EurekAlert, which has a copy of the script and the translation. Science Daily posted a […]
Cave Dates and Climate Estimates May Be Off
December 19, 2009
The steady drip, drip, drip of water from stalactites should provide a way to calculate the age of cave formations, right? Don’t be too sure. A scientist at Florida State found that calcite deposition is a function of how the cave “breathes,” reported New Scientist. This finding “pours doubt on ancient climate records derived from […]
Iapetus Mystery Moon Solved
December 14, 2009
Iapetus, that black-and-white moon orbiting Saturn that has mystified astronomers for 338 years, may finally be understood. The dark material did come from outside – not inside. The exogenic theory has won. It’s been coated with dust from outer moons, but that’s not all: uneven heating has moved the ice around on the surface, accentuating […]
Darwin Was Wrong About Geology
December 2, 2009
Field geologists have revisited a site Darwin visited on the voyage of the Beagle, and found that he incorrectly interpreted what he found. A large field of erratic boulders in Tierra del Fuego that have become known as “Darwin’s Boulders” were deposited by a completely different process than he thought. The modern team, publishing in […]
Soft Muscle Tissue Found in Fossil Salamander
November 6, 2009
More soft tissue has been found in a fossil – this time in a salamander said to be 18 million years old. The article on PhysOrg called it “the highest quality soft tissue preservation ever documented in the fossil record.” Unlike the previous discoveries of fossil tissue inside bone or amber, the recognizable […]
Ferocity of Geological Change Stuns Scientists
November 4, 2009
A crack in Ethiopia 500 meters long took just days to form. New Scientist reported about a team of scientists who used seismic sensors to reconstruct the event. “They found that a 60-kilometre-long, 8-metre-wide dike of solidified magma formed in the rift, causing the crack, in a matter of days.” They believe the crack will […]
Trilobites Found in Fools Gold: What Does It Mean?
October 27, 2009
Trilobites are icons of the Cambrian and Ordovician periods. When thousands are found in beds over a wide area encased in pyrite, with no sign of decay, what does it mean? A team publishing their findings in Geology suggests it means rapid burial.1 Here’s the abstract from their paper: Pyritization of soft tissues is extremely […]