Penn State's Google Plus page will host a Hangout at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday (April 11) with Kevin Furlong, Penn State professor of geosciences, to discuss earthquakes in light of the massive temblors off the coast of Sumatra Wednesday. Furlong is an internationally sought-after expert who has studied the causes and consequences of earthquakes around the world. Among his research interests are plate tectonics and lithospheric geodynamics -- processes that drive many natural hazards. He is also director of Penn State's Natural Hazards Center. (more)
Weeks after receiving his master's degree in geosciences from Penn State, Hiroshi Hamasaki decided to thank Hiroshi Ohmoto, his adviser and professor of geochemistry, with a $100,000 gift to establish the Geosciences Research Fund in Honor of Hiroshi Ohmoto in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. (more)
Richard B. Alley, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at Penn State, will be the first recipient of the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication, Climate One at The Commonwealth Club announced Friday, Aug. 26, during the 2011 Stephen H. Schneider Symposium in Boulder, Colo. (more)
Thanks to popular Hollywood films such as "E.T.," "Avatar" and "Super 8," life on other planets seems highly conceivable to people who have considered the idea that we are not alone in the universe. Jim Kasting, distinguished professor of geosciences in Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and an expert in atmospheric evolution, is one person who considers it a lot. By studying early Earth's atmosphere and the origins of oxygen in it, Kasting has become one of the foremost experts on planetary habitable zones. (more)
PBS will re-broadcast "Earth: The Operators' Manual," featuring Richard Alley, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences in Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences as host, at 8:30 p.m. Friday (April 22). The show can be seen in the State College area on WPSU-TV. Check local listings for other broadcast times. (more)
Richard Alley, Evan Pugh professor of geosciences in Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, is hosting a new PBS special on climate change and sustainable energy called "Earth: The Operators' Manual." The show will debut nationally at 10 p.m. on Sunday, April 10. Alley -- a geologist, contributor to the United Nations panel on climate change and former oil company employee whom Andy Revkin of the New York Times has called "a cross between Woody Allen and Carl Sagan" -- leads the audience through an engaging, one-hour special about climate change and sustainable energy, set to premiere during Earth Month 2011. Alley's book of the same name, a companion to the program, will be published by W.W. Norton & Co on April 18. (more)
A simple experiment with sand, soil and colored liquids give area fifth graders a firsthand lesson in how soil can help clean up environmental pollution as part of the Department of Geosciences' annual outreach program, "Shake, Rattle & Rocks" in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State. (more)
It's one thing to study the causes and aftermath of this summer's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It's another thing to travel 1,200 miles from central Pennsylvania and wade through a marsh along the Louisiana coast. Which is exactly why Timothy Bralower and Nancy Tuana, the faculty members teaching an honors course at Penn State this fall on the science and ethics behind the spill, hauled 24 students to New Orleans for a week in November to see for themselves what is happening along the coast six months after the country's worst oil spill. (more)
Iron furnaces that once dotted central Pennsylvania may have left a legacy of manganese enriched soils, according to Penn State geoscientists. This manganese can be toxic to trees, especially sugar maples, and other vegetation. (more)
The Soufriere Hills Volcano on Montserrat erupted in 1995, and an international team of researchers has studied this volcano from land and sea since then to understand the workings of andesite volcanos more completely. "To the extent that the Soufriere Hills Volcano is typical of andesitic dome building volcanoes, results from this research can be expected to apply more generally," said Barry Voight, professor emeritus of geosciences, Penn State. (more)
