Earth’s Next Epoch
The activities of people are now shaping the Earth so strongly that geologists are considering giving the current time period a whole new name in the geologic time scale.
The Rock Doc, Dr. E. Kirsten Peters
I’m a geologist with broad interests across the sciences. I’d welcome questions or ideas from you about any aspects of what I’ve covered already and what should be done next.
The Rock Doc essays concern a variety of topics, including research work underway here at Washington State University, the scientific dimension of events in the national news, technical work that has economic significance, or some other aspect of science of particular interest to the public.
The Rock Doc columns are published as columns in newspapers. They must be brief and designed to appeal to the general public. The columns are a service of the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences of Washington State University. Ideas about future coverage or complaints about what’s already been done can be addressed to me:
Dr. E. Kirsten Peters
Director of Major Grant Development
College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences
211A Hulbert Hall
Washington State University
Pullman WA 99164-6240
Email me at epeters@wsu.edu or
Follow me on Twitter at RockDocWSU
(509) 335-6881
Editors anywhere are welcome to reproduce Rock Doc columns as long as credit is given to the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences at Washington State University.
WSU Press has released a collection of the best of the Rock Doc columns, purchase a copy of Planet Rock Doc here.
Eggs from Near and Far
The Longevity of Dogs
Mirror Image of Japans Woes
Visiting Darwin’s Grave Ere I Die
The Downside of Good Fortune
The Great Crack in the Atlantic
Our Daily Bread in 2050
Victory over the Angel of Death
What a Drag
Fetching for a Living
Talking with Fido
Designing Better Asphalt
A Brisk Walking Pace is Better
Proposed Changes to Nutrition Labels
Keeping Warm with Gold Fever
The activities of people are now shaping the Earth so strongly that geologists are considering giving the current time period a whole new name in the geologic time scale.
Does it help birds in the long run to feed them on a winter’s day? Recent science weighs in.
Being fat has been linked to a variant of a gene, but new research indicates the year you were born is also a factor.
Winter driving can be hazardous, but new and greener approaches to combating icy pavement are on the way.
This is a dark time of year — and that influences the amount of Vitamin D in our bodies. Here’s the scoop on some recent research about the health impacts of low Vitamin D levels.
Recently I had the pleasure of going to the wedding celebration of my assistant at work — whom I count as a good friend — and her new husband. Theirs is an international marriage: the bride was born and raised in this country, the groom born and raised in China. The wedding celebration had elements […]
Climate change dates back to ancient times. Here’s new evidence on the timing of climate change and population collapse in Europe in the late Bronze Age.
If only I could run my natural gas furnace using a little bit of the methane found on Titan, a moon of Saturn.
Here’s fuel for daydreams of finding enormous gold nuggets when the weather improves.
What if there were a two-for-one sale on kilowatts? Your power bill would be cut in half — not a bad result for your monthly budget. Energy drives everything we produce and consume, and global energy consumption continues to grow year after year. The two-for-one image came to mind as I talked with Professor Jeanne […]