Human-Caused Minerals: Another Sure Sign of the Anthropocene?

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Chalconatronite, a result of quarrying, Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, Canada. (Credit: RRUFF) To the ever-growing list of uniquely human tweaks to the planet, we can add the creation of 208 minerals. A list compiled by researchers from the Carnegie Institution for Science, the University of Maine and the University of Arizona provides the first assessment of how many unique compounds human activities have created. The collection is another piece of evidence in favor of the Anthropocene, the auth ...read more

NextGen Paleontologist: Egypt's Catfish Hunter Sanaa El-Sayed

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Egyptian paleontologist Sanaa El-Sayed, shown here in the field, is the first woman vertebrate paleontologist from the Middle East to be first author on a paper published internationally — and her colleagues at Mansoura University are not far behind her. (Photo courtesy Sanaa El-Sayed) Sometimes, paleontology is about looking forward. Sure, the field is focused on uncovering and understanding the past, but to continue to progress, like every other area of science, paleontology n ...read more

Building a Better Polar Ice Forecast

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

A Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker pierces the Beaufort Sea ice pack in September. (Credit: Alek Petty/NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center) Watching Arctic sea ice shrink to record lows has become a summer tradition for climatologists. And while few would expect that long-term trend to reverse, it’s still a struggle to predict the annual highs and lows of polar sea ice. In fact, just looking at long-term statistics — how much the sea ice maximum and minimum usual ...read more

Reef Check Underwater Science

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

“People protect what they love.” ~ Jacques Yves Cousteau When I was a kid, my family and I used to love watching “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.” Every week we’d set out the TV tables and share our dinner with the French marine explorer as he led us on underwater adventures and taught us to appreciate the beauty of science and the sea. His show is one of the main reasons I became an environmental reporter and earned my scuba diving certification in Monterey ...read more