Saturn Rescues Earth: Outer Planet Wonders
November 22, 2014
How Saturn saved the Earth, and other news from the ringed planet, its family, and other bodies in the outer solar system.
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What Do Geologists Know About the Early Earth?
November 14, 2013
There's not much data, and there's a lot of doubt and debate. That's what a geologist admits about theories of early earth history.
How to Liven Up Dead Geology
May 24, 2012
A new study shows some carbon compounds from Mars formed, not by living organisms, but from geological and chemical processes. What does life have to do with it? Ask some science reporters.
Where Do Gems and Precious Metals Come From?
September 7, 2011
Gold, diamonds, and other precious metals and gems... they are found close to the surface of the earth where humans can mine them and make jewelry. But they shouldn’t be there. Heavy elements should have sunk deep into the core of the Earth soon after it was formed. Wait till you hear some of the latest ideas about how precious metals and gems arrived near the surface. Maybe they shot up from the mantle. Maybe they came from outer space.
Origin of Life Made Easy
August 13, 2011
As anyone knows who has been given directions and told “you can’t miss it,” sounding easy and being easy can be entirely different things. Reporters sometimes make the most difficult step in evolution – the origin of life – look like a cinch through the use of suggestive metaphors, like the commonly-invoked phrase, “building blocks of life.” The directions in their articles usually lead to dead ends at worst, or, at best, baby steps on a long march, most of the route TBD, a TLA (three letter acronym) meaning “to be determined.”