You are browsing the archive for Michael McFadden, Author at GeoSpace - Page 4 of 10.
26 February 2010
The 2-Hour Film School (a non-degree-granting institution)
On Wednesday, ocean scientists turned in their hard hats and field gear at the door for a different hat: filmmaker. Dr. Randy Olson, author of the new book Don’t Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in the Age of Style, led a workshop on science filmmaking. Olson has directed two critically acclaimed films, that took a unique look at science controversies; Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus and Sizzle: …
24 February 2010
Ocean Observing Systems in the classroom
On Tuesday, marine scientist Dr. Linda Duguay discussed efforts to demystify Ocean Observing Systems for teachers in the Los Angeles area during her talk ED24A-02 “COSEE-West Ocean Observing System (OOS) Workshops.” This week-long summer institute takes a group of 20 – 25 teachers and introduces them to the scientists and instruments that comprise many of the local and California statewide OOS networks, such as the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing …
22 February 2010
How low (in oxygen) will seafloor scavengers go for a treat?
“Cadavers in Support of Forensic and Hypoxia Research”: This title of an Ocean Sciences abstract immediately grabbed my attention. Why would oceanographers dump pig corpses in the sea and watch with cameras as the bodies decomposed? For starters, the pigs are perfect proxies for human cadavers, so they allow forensic experts to study how sea creatures scavenge the remains of homicide victims thrown into the sea, says Verena Tunnicliffe, a professor at the University of Victoria, …
21 February 2010
What brings people to the 2010 Ocean Sciences?
“I am chairing a session on satellite altimetry research on Friday. It promises to be very exciting, because hopefully people are going to argue with each other about what the oceans are doing.” Josh Willis, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab “I’m a sophomore in marine biology. This is my first time at Ocean Sciences. I will not be presenting; I’m watching and observing. I’m currently doing undergrad research with phytoplankton and …
15 February 2010
Insight needed from civil and earthquake engineers
As D.C. endeavored to dig itself out following record-breaking snowfall, AGU headquarters still managed to push out Eos, its weekly newspaper. In the 9 Feb issue was a new type of article for Eos–a news round table. In this particular article, called “In the Aftermath of Haiti’s Earthquake: A Discussion of Lessons Learned,” senior writer Randy Showstack interviewed three noted seismologists for their perspectives on what the earthquake means for …
4 February 2010
The disconnect between geoscience and society: One of timescale?
In the spirit of scientific cooperation, AGU is allowing open access to several papers on the tectonics of the Caribbean Plate. We join GSA, who also have granted open access to several of their papers. The idea is that researchers can use readily accessible information to help plan scientific responses to the 12 January earthquake in Haiti. While reading these papers, I was struck by the great disconnect between science …
2 February 2010
Plans for a briefing on Capitol Hill
The model slip rate deficit, together with the dates of the large historical earthquakes, indicates the potential for a large (MW 7.5 or greater) earthquake on the Septentrional fault in the Dominican Republic. Similarly, the Enriquillo fault in Haiti is currently capable of a MW 7.2 earthquake if the entire elastic strain accumulated since the last major earthquake was released in a single event today. From Manaker, D., Calais, E., …
1 February 2010
Thoughts after the Haiti earthquake: How can we use what we know to save lives?
I woke up to the news the day after the Haiti earthquake and thought: one more human tragedy that did not have to be. My family moved to Santiago, Chile one month before the great 1960 Chilean earthquake—the largest earthquake to ever have been recorded by seismometers. I was five years old and grew up to study it for my doctoral thesis at Columbia University. I had switched from astrophysics …
13 January 2010
Expedition for Learning: The Andean Geotrail
I like to hike, I like to travel. My favorite guidebook is the Lonely Planet and I love going off the beaten path to discover new places and seek out sites of geological wonder. I’ve stepped on glaciers in Canada, fought the circum-polar current on a research cruise from Cape Town to Punta Arenas, eaten food cooked by Maori from hot springs in New Zealand, stuck my rock hammer in …
At Nine Years Old, the Youngest FM09 Scientist!
Yesterday I got this letter in my inbox. It is truly amazing! Claire was also featured in a news story produced by the Bay Area’s ABC affiliate, KGO-TV. Hello from Claire Dworsky, the youngest scientist to have presented a poster at the 2009 AGU annual meeting in San Francisco. Yes, I am nine years old and I go to school in San Francisco, so it was easy for me to …
GeoSpace is a blog on Earth and space science, managed by AGU’s Public Information staff. The blog features posts by AGU writers and guest contributors on all sorts of relevant science topics, but with a focus on new research and geo and space sciences-related stories that are currently in the news.