Olivia DrakeDana Royer, assistant professor of environmental studies, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, is the co-author of "Quantification of large uncertainties in fossil leaf paleoaltimetry," published in Tectonics, doi:10.1029/2009TC002549, 2010; and "Fossil soils constrain ancient climate sensitivity," published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107: 517-518, 2010.
"Keeping Our Feet to the Fire: Joining Art and Science to Engage Environmental Issues" is the topic of Wesleyan's 2010 Earth Day celebration on April 22. The event will feature a world premier screening of Paul Horton's film Connections within a Fragile World. A panel of environmental experts will discuss the question "are art and science as natural allies in communicating environmental issues to the public?" It will be moderated by Jeremy Isard '11, with panelists: Godfrey Bourne, University Missouri St. Louis; Marda Kirn, EcoArts Connections, Colorado; Cassie Meador, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Washington, D.C.; and Barry Chernoff, the Robert…
David LowSuzanne O'Connell, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, director of the Service Learning Center, will be the K. Douglas Nelson Lecture Series keynote speaker at Syracuse University April 22. Her title is “Weddell Sea Sediment, ODP Site 694: One Clue to Antarctica’s Past.” The event is sponsored by Syracuse's Department of Earth Sciences.
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David PesciJim Greenwood, research assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, holds a slide with a moon rock sample that contains water. The water was found in the mineral apatite, which he and his team were able to identify in the sample. (Photo by Olivia Bartlett Drake)Soon after the Apollo spaceflights to the moon, experts examined the rocks brought back by the astronauts and declared with certainty that the moon was a dry, waterless place. Forty years later, James Greenwood begs to differ. Not only does he have proof, his findings strongly suggest that some of the lunar water he found…
A presentation titled, “After Climategate: Rethinking Climate Science and Climate Policy” will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 25 in PAC 001. Admission is free and open to the public. The panel discussion will feature Gary Yohe, Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics and senior member of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); Joe Rouse, chair of the Science in Society Program, Hedding Professor of Moral Science, professor of philosophy; Suzanne O’Connell, associate professor of earth and environmental science, director of the Service Learning Center; and Paul Erickson, assistant professor of history, member of the Science…
Between now and Earth Day in April, Wesleyan employees who seek greener ways to commute to campus will have the opportunity to earn rewards through the Earth Day Commuter Challenge 2010: "Race to the Finish." The event encourages all forms of green commuting including carpooling, vanpooling, telecommuting, biking, walking and taking the bus, and is projected to eliminating more than 140,000 vehicle trips state-wide. This level of participation would result in 5,000,000 fewer miles of driving and the elimination of 2,000 tons of emissions. "Our hope is that the Earth Day Commuter Challenge will encourage employees to get out of…
Dana Royer, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, was quoted in a Dec. 30, 2009 issue of Nature News in an article titled "Soils give clean look at past carbon dioxide." According to the article, scientists believe atmospheric carbon dioxide levels may have been lower in warm eras of the Earth's distant past than once believed. The finding raises concern that carbon dioxide levels from fossil fuel burning may, in the near future, be closer to those associated with ancient hothouse climates. More immediately, the work brings one line of palaeoclimate evidence — that deduced from ancient soils —…
Manju Hingorani, associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, is the author of "S. cerevisiae Msh2-Msh6 DNA binding kinetics reveal a mechanism of targeting sites for DNA mismatch repair," published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences " Early Edition," December 2009. Dana Royer, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, is the author of "Fossil soils constrain ancient climate sensitivity," published in the same journal.
Zeilinga de Boer is the author of Stories in Stone: How Geology Influenced Connecticut History and Culture published by Wesleyan University Press in July 2009. The book is available online from The University Press of New England.
Johan Varekamp, the Harold T. Stearns Professor in Earth Science, and Ellen Thomas, research professor of earth and environmental sciences, presented papers at the Estuaries and Coasts in a Changing World conference of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation in Portland, Ore. Nov. 1-5. Their talks were titled "Proxies for Eutrophication in Long Island Sound" and " Hypoxia in Long Island Sound - Since When and Why."