As the national forum of debate and development of cutting-edge Earth science, The Geological Society has a special responsibility to communicate geoscience and its importance to the Government, the media, and the general public. As part of this commitment to support geoscientists, the profession and society, the Geological Society has been involved with Voice of …
Earth Science Week 2023 (8th-14th October) is an exciting opportunity to celebrate the theme “Geoscience Innovating for Earth and People”. During Earth Science Week, organisations around the globe host events that encourage people to connect with the world around them and, in line with the theme, think about the way geoscience influences our world and …
By Beki Hooper Beki Hooper is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet. Her poems have appeared in two anthologies and multiple international literary magazines. She often writes on themes of nature, mortality and psychology. She is also a scientist, and holds a doctorate in corvid cognition. You can follow her on Twitter @BekiHooper. “Don’t tell me …
April is Poetic Earth Month. We are celebrating this year with a generous contribution by Helen Nattrass (pictured right) and Victoria Field. Helen discusses the writing and poetry workshops which encourage people to not only gain inspiration from the world around them, but to open up and importantly, have fun… Victoria Field and I co-operate …
With geoscience-related degrees seeing a decline in applicants, George Jameson (Diversity and Inclusion Project Lead) discusses the value of further education in Earth science graduate outcomes. For some time, we have wondered about how beneficial or useful obtaining a degree in the Earth sciences can be for those graduating in the United Kingdom. This question …
With the recent launch of Geoenergy, Max Brouwers (Getech) highlights the importance of geoscience in this new era of sustainable energy. The energy transition is well underway and the speed of change is accelerating. With the shift from fossil-based energy systems to renewable sources, the associated trilemma of challenges – access to affordable, secure, and …
BGS celebrates completion of a £25m investment that mirrors Earth science’s value to the nation, says Chief Scientific Adviser. The Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Sir John Beddington CMG FRS, opened the headquarters of the British Geological Survey in Keyworth, after its £25m makeover. Formerly named for former Director Sir Kingsley Dunham, the Nottinghamshire campus … Continue reading
What are the most visited websites in the world? To answer this question, many of us will refer to Wikipedia. While the site hasn’t quite achieved the stratospheric heights of Facebook and Google, it is rarely out of the top ten. “Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the … Continue reading
Hosepipe bans are becoming a familiar feature of summer, and with claims that 2012 could see ‘the worst drought in 30 years’, they are here again. Well timed, then, that the theme of a recent Geological Society conference was “Water Futures”. There is often confusion and misunderstanding about water supply in the UK and elsewhere, … Continue reading
Across the courtyard from The Geological Society, the Royal Academy’s latest exhibition David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture is attracting bigger crowds: the queue that snakes in steward-managed concertinas around the statue of Joshua Reynolds seems to be unabated by the cold March winds. It’s understandable: Hockney is very popular, and, along with Freud at … Continue reading
This week, we’ve been uploading clips from Richard Thomas’ film ‘Dan McKenzie and friends’, which looks at the early history of the theory of plate tectonics. It’s easy to forget that plate tectonics, an idea we’re all familiar with at least on a basic level, isn’t all that old. It wasn’t until the 1960s that … Continue reading
An ex – President of the Geological Society is bound to be one of the survivors. But starting on Tuesday 24th at 9 p.m. I am fronting a BBC4 series about different kinds of survivors – animals and plants whose relatives are known deep in the fossil record. “Living fossils” was how Charles Darwin described … Continue reading
One of the fastest growing areas of research in the geosciences is what is now called ‘geomicrobiology’. Although bacteria and other microbes have long been used in industrial processes such as bioleaching, where metals are extracted from their mined ores, it is only now that the role played by microbes in geological processes is being … Continue reading
As well as eating and drinking, Christmas is traditionally a time for doing very little. In celebration of this, we’ve compiled a few geological ways to pass the time during the holiday. Continue reading
We knew we were in for it when we chose a picture library image of an unidentified ammonite for the cover of the November issue of Geoscientist. So far reactions have been of two kinds – compliments on the graphic design, and complaints regarding the lack of diagnosis. So, hoping to move on beyond the … Continue reading
Seeing the huts of these early expeditions and experiencing in a slight way what the weather can be like here, even at the height of summer, brings a new dimension to, and a deeper appreciation of the achievements of the Scott and Shackleton expeditions. Continue reading
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