February 3, 2009 - Google Earth is renowned for providing images of the 1/3 of the planet that is dirt, rocks, sand, ice, forests, pasture, croplands, pavement and buildings. Now it covers the 2/3 of the planet that is under water.  Google Earth 5.0 (download at earth.google.com) offers a virtual underwater world with photographs and videos of sea life,  models of shipwrecks, water temperature data collected from buoys and more. Many of the coolest features of the upgraded Google Earth are contributed by researchers seeking to popularize their work.  These contriburtions are presented via layers.  Ken Peterson, communications director for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, provides a layer that shows the location of various types of fish along with ratings on whether people should eat those varieties or substitute others. Barbara Block of Stanford University and Patrick Halpin of Duke University show the tracks of shark travels recorded by radio transmission to satellites. Here's more at CNET.

January 25th, 2009 - Last Monday the Russian freighter Sinegorsk entered the English Channel in rough seas while on its way from Sweden to Egypt and 1,500 tons of lumber washed overboard. Now scavengers are swarming beaches near the white cliffs of Dover for the wood. Authorities have urged people to not to take any of it home and heavy fines have been threatened. But shed builders and roof fixers have not been deterred: "I've got a leaking roof and I think it might be really good for that job," said Rex Hope, who drove off with planks of wood in the back of his truck. Here's the full story from CNN.

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To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour. William Blake

January 6, 2009 - Dr. Rob Holman doesn't claim to see the world in a grain of sand. He's not a poet after all. But he does say that a grain of sand provides a lot of information about a beach. For example, a grain of sand from a beach in New England tends to be larger, coarser and darker than a grain of sand in Florida. Nor'easters drive sand from north to south, waves grinding the grains finer and finer along the way. As the sand moves from Cape Cod to Key West the heavier darker grains fall out and the remaining grains become smaller and more rounded. Dr. Holman, a coastal oceanographer at Oregon State University, has collected samples of sand from every continent. He now has sand samples from over 1000 beaches and is running out of space in his labratory. Here's more from Cornelia Dean at the NY Times

December 31, 3008 - Evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson winds up her NY Times series "The Wild Side" with an essay on a fossilized oyster shell. In the spirit of New Year's Eve here's a snippet:

"But as I sit here at the threshold of the new year, contemplating this oyster, what strikes me most powerfully is that the impact of ancient organisms is with us still. As I wrote some months ago, life has altered the chemistry of the oceans and the air. It has even enriched the variety of minerals found here. Of the 4,300 or so different minerals on the planet, perhaps 2,800 exist only because of the activities of living beings. A planet that has never been home to life would have simpler rocks, less interesting geology. The beings of the past have built the Earth as we know it today.

They have even flavored the wine we drink. The grapes that form the basis of Chablis, the wine that the French often drink with oysters, are grown in soil that once was seabed. Look closely at the chalky soil of the Chablis vineyards, and you will find fossil oysters.

All of which makes me wonder: what will our legacy be?"

The full essay is well worth reading. Click here.