geology

Understanding Facebook's privacy aftershocks

It's been a long time since it got in the way of the World Series, but the threat of seismic tumult still hangs over Silicon Valley. When earthquakes elsewhere in the world dominate the news, people get a little more sensitive to their own vulnerability in the Bay Area. The ground might really have just given a twitch. Is it moving?

Comparing Facebook's latest product modifications to deadly natural disasters is probably a little bit inappropriate, but the psychological reaction doesn't seem all that different. The social network modified its policies for handling user data once again … Read more

Google clears up Atlantis debris

Guess this is the kind of tech news people really want to read. There was an overwhelming response to our post about Google denying that its Google Earth ocean-floor mapping software had unearthed the mythical sunken island of Atlantis.

I'm talking dozens of comments, 6,000+ Diggs, and an in-box full of fun messages containing everything from alternate theories to moral support from fellow Lost fans who want to see the show's array of wacky maps explained (blast door, please!). It was great to hear from you all, and thanks for chiming in.

Without a doubt, Google was … Read more

Are people changing geologic time?

For some 4.5 billion years, natural forces such as volcanic eruptions, asteroid strikes, and earthquakes have shaped the Earth.

Now, however, human activity is rewriting geologic history, according to scientists in the February issue of GSA Today, produced by the Geological Society of America.

They blame the industrial revolution for a new geologic epoch, dubbed the Anthropocene. Stresses to the planet's atmosphere, oceans, life forms, and very surface are dramatic enough to end the Holocene epoch, the geologists say. That period began about 12,000 years ago as the last Ice Age melted and the planet warmed enough … Read more

Whoa. Shiprock is actually named after something

SHIPROCK, N.M.--When I was looking at the map, trying to figure out how to get from Taos, N.M., to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, I saw that the road would take me through this little town.

At the time, it didn't occur to me that the town's name might be meaningful.

Well, until I drove through, on Road Trip 2007, my journey around the Southwest looking for the best of science, technology and nature.

And lo and behold, even before you get to Shiprock, off in the distance, a gigantic--and I do mean … Read more

Why some global warmth is a very good thing

Got a floaty feeling? Well, it's not something you ingested and it's not your imagination. Almost all of the Earth's continents are above sea level because they float on molten material beneath the Earth's crust. That's the word from geologists at the University of Utah.

But their stunning conclusion: it's heat from inside the Earth that keeps most of North America afloat. They say the rocks of the Earth's crust are heated from beneath by molten rocks. That makes the crust not only hotter but less dense, thus it floats higher. Without this … Read more