Rock Doc

The Rock Doc, Dr. E. Kirsten Peters

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.

Recent Radio Recordings

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

All that glitters is not (pure) gold

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 […]

Harvesting energy from sunlight

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 […]