Environmental and Earth Sciences

Arctic Science, Geography, Geology, Oceanography, Hydrology, Glaciology, Seismology, Meteorology, Climate Science, Limnology, Remote Sensing, Natural Resources, Mining, Green Tech, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Development, Archeology, Paleontology

The Salt Path and The Wild Silence

Sarah Boon Biology and Life Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences
This past week I read two books by Raynor Winn, a UK nature writer. The Salt Path is the first, which was followed by The Wild Silence. I received The Wild Silence from the library first, so read the books out of order. But I liked it so much that I bought my own copy of The Salt Path, which I read second. And then for good measure I read The Wild Silence again, with…

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Waterkeeper makes recommendations for improvements to Canadian radioactive waste management policy

ruby Communication, Education and Outreach, Environmental and Earth Sciences, Policy and Politics
Pippa Feinstein is a Toronto-based lawyer, researcher, and mediator focussed on environmental and social justice who has worked with Lake Ontario Waterkeeper to safeguard Lake Ontario.  For 20 years, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper has been the leading voice on nuclear issues and threats to Great Lakes drinking water. Years ago, the Darlington nuclear plant killed 18...

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Feeling Human

Sarah Boon Biology and Life Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences
Last week I went to a public vaccine clinic to get my first shot of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. I had registered in advance so had a time and date, with no waiting in line hoping they still had some vaccine left. It was all well-organized, with volunteers showing you where to line up, and making sure you had your health card and the QR code received when you first registered for your appointment. I…

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Why studying silesaurid tooth tissues is so important

Aaron Leblanc Biology and Life Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences, General Science
Silesaurids are a mysterious group of Triassic reptiles. Depending on which hypothesis you favour, these small, quadrupedal, long-necked archosaurs were either the closest relatives of all dinosaurs or were the earliest members of one of the two major dinosaur groups: the Ornithischia. Figuring out their exact placement on the reptile family tree is crucial, because … Continue reading Why studying silesaurid tooth tissues is so important

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An open source wish list

Matt Hall Environmental and Earth Sciences
After reviewing a few code-dependent scientific papers recently, I’ve been thinking about reproducibility. Is there a minimum requirement for scientific code, or should we just be grateful for any code at all?The sky’s the limitI’ve come to the conclusion that there are a few things that are essential if you want anyone to be able to do more than simply read your code. (If that’s all you want, just add a code listing to your…

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Equinor should change its open data licence

Matt Hall Environmental and Earth Sciences
This is an open letter to Equinor to appeal for a change to the licence used on Volve, Northern Lights, and other datasets. If you wish to co-sign, please add a supportive comment below. (Or if you disagree, please speak up too!)Open data has had huge impact on science and society. Whether the driving purpose is innovation, transparency, engagement, or something else, open data can make a difference. Underpinning the dataset itself is its licence,…

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Five Fantastic Fire Following Flowers

chloevanloon Biology and Life Sciences, Communication, Education and Outreach, Environmental and Earth Sciences
Say that five times, fast I dare ya. Right now my news feeds are filled with more data supporting trends that show sickening predictions for California and the whole west coast’s drought-filled summer and wildfire season. With not enough atmospheric rivers this winter most of California is already underwater restrictions, and it’s only May. Eeek! Check out this great KQED Infographic that illustrates the severity. Fires can be devastating, but they also give rise to…

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Here Come the Cicadas

Sarah Boon Biology and Life Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences
I have always been fascinated by cicadas – the periodical ones that emerge every 13 or 17 years in a frenzy of feeding and mating. When I taught an introductory environmental science course, I would show the section from the Planet Earth movie that focuses on the cicadas and their emergence. Because Brood X (the 17-year cicadas) are limited to the northeast US, most of my students (and I) had never seen such a spectacle,…

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How can technical societies support openness?

Matt Hall Environmental and Earth Sciences
There’s an SPE conference on openness happening this week. Around 60 people paid the $400 registration fee — does that seem like a lot for a virtual conference? — and it’s mostly what you’d expect: talks and panel discussions. But there’s 20 minutes per day for open discussion, and we must be grateful for small things! For sure, it is always good to see the technical societies pay attention to open data, open source code, and…

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Projects from the Geothermal Hackathon 2021

Matt Hall Environmental and Earth Sciences
The second Geothermal Hackathon happened last week. Timed to coincide with the Geosciences virtual event of the World Geothermal Congress, our 2-day event brought about 24 people together in the famous Software Underground Chateau (I’m sorry if I missed anyone!). For comparison, last year we were 13 people, so we’re going in the right direction! Next time I hope we’re as big as one of our ‘real world’ events — maybe we’ll even be able to…

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