Tag Archives: extinction

Smokers and Worms

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Ron Miksha

If all life on the surface of the Earth died, who (or what) would mourn the loss? Not such a hypothetical question. A miscreant meteor could end our little party in a flash. But there is a rather good chance … Continue reading →

Posted in Geology, Oceans | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Geology President’s Day

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Ron Miksha

Americans get a day off today. It’s an occasion to remember the American presidents, especially Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, two of the February-birthday presidents. (The other two were William Harrison and Ronald Reagan.) On this day, Washington, Lincoln, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Culture, Geology, History | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Ethical De-extinction

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Ron Miksha

A South Korean biotech firm pulled blood from a frozen female Siberian wooly mammoth. Found on an arctic island in the East Siberian Sea, the creature is the best preserved mammoth ever discovered. When she was dug out of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Culture, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Age of Man?

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Ron Miksha

Well, this is not the Age of Aquarius. Last week, geologists met in Berlin to discuss  renaming our current geological epoch – the Holocene. They say it began when the ice age ended, 11,700 years ago. The geologists in Berlin … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Culture, Oceans, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Bad Luck of Extinction

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Ron Miksha

Bad genes or bad luck? That’s the subtitle of Extinction,  David Raup’s romp through Earth history from his viewpoint as a preeminent palaeontologist. Raup (along with colleague Jack Sepkoski) became somewhat well known for their theory that extinctions occur in … Continue reading →

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