Don't Panic Geocast

By John Leeman and Shannon DulinScience Technology Education Natural Sciences

Don't Panic Geocast episodes

May 08, 2015Episode 16 - "We are scared" Nature Calls
This week John and Shannon discuss going outside and how important it is to our learning processes. Are we suffering from “nature deficit disorder”? We follow up the discussion with a #FunPaperFriday about playing outside.
Last Child in the Woods by Louv
The Nature Principle by Louv
Richard Louv Website
How to Raise a Wild Child by Sampson
raiseawildchild.com
Free Range Kids
Kids Need Nature as Much as Nature Needs Them
The Nature Conservancy
Fun Paper Friday
Dyment, Janet E. “Green school grounds as sites for outdoor learning: Barriers and opportunities.” International Research in Geographical & Environmental Education 14.1 (2005): 28–45.
Contact us:
Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
1 hr 1 min
May 01, 2015Episode 15 - "If it didn't, that seismometer probably wasn't working" The Nepal Earthquake
This week we are joined by a guest co-host in Shannon’s absence. Matt Herman talks to us about the recent earthquake in Nepal. We had to record in an empty classroom, so sorry about the audio quality. We’ll be back to our normal location and setup next week!
Earthquake USGS Event Page
Plate Map
PAGER Report
John’s Ground Motion Movie
Everest Avalanche Movie
Matt uses INSAR and GPS to look at static displacements.
USArray Ground Motion Visualizations
Coulomb Stress
Geologic Cross-section
Rayleigh-Benard Convection
Fun Paper Friday
This week we read about a mysterious mist above your coffee and tea. This is a great reason to film your coffee cup!
Umeki, T., Ohata, M., Nakanishi, H., & Ichikawa, M. (2015, January 2). Dynamics of microdroplets over the surface of hot water. arXiv.org. http://doi.org/10.1038/srep08046
Contact us:
Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
43 min
April 24, 2015Episode 14 - "I basically need a holodeck"
Taking notes is an essential part of your job, no matter what you do. This week we discuss note taking strategies, supplies, and how we work. Also don’t miss out on a sticky #FunPaperFriday!
John’s Storm Time Lapse
Midichloria mitochonreii
Note Taking Systems
Don’t bother with highlighting, underlining, re-reading, etc. Those have been shown to be ineffective. (Dunlosky et al., 2013)
Bullet Journal
Outlining
Cornell Method
Sketch Notes. There is a book and workbook by Mike Rohde available to help you learn.
Mind Mapping
Note Taking Tools
Digital vs. Analog
We can talk about the advantages and disadvantages of each forever.
Digital is re-workable (like lasso and move in penultimate).
Paper is easier to write/shade/make more detailed and elegant notes
Digital can embed media
Paper doesn’t crash or run out of battery
Digital can be backed up against loss
Digital
iPad
Apps to write or type (omnioutliner for example)
Smart pens like the Neo smartpen or the Livescribe
Apps on laptops
Analog
Good notebooks include Moleskine, Field Notes, Rhodia, and Whitelines
Pen and pencil are important. John likes Palomino Blackwing 602 pencils and the Lamy Safari pen with Noodler’s ink.
There was an excellent episode of Technical Difficulties that discussed pens, paper, and how they preserve notes.
If you are into pens, there is also The Pen Addict Podcast
Fun Paper Friday
Did you know that the bug-on-windshield effect greatly impacts the fuel efficiency of an airliner? This week we read about some clever solutions to stop the waste of fuel and excessive, unnecessary carbon emissions.
Siochi, E. J., Smith, J. G., Wohl, C. J., Gardne, J. M., Penner, R. K., & Connell, J. W. Engineered Surfaces for Mitigation of Insect Residue Adhesion (pp. 1–15).
Contact us:
Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
1 hr
April 17, 2015Episode 13 - "One of my best friends is a poet" Phoebe Cohen
This week we are joined by paleontologist Dr. Phoebe Cohen (@PhoebeFossil) from Williams. She studies microscopic single-cell fossils from before there were animals.
Undergrad at Cornell, wanting to be in biology… landed in earth system science
Strongly influenced by the book “Life on a young planet”
Grad school at Harvard
1/2 post-doc, 1/2 education-outreach at MIT
Gigapan Photography
Cambridge Science Festival
The Story Collider Podcast
Phoebe’s TEDed video
Useful Apps/Programs
Wunderlist
Evernote
ImageJ
Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
Google Calendar
Papers
Strides
7 Minute Workout
Fun Paper Friday
This week we read about the nutrition of gut bacteria in a baby and how it can influence their behavior. You can also follow the author on Twitter: @Mammals_Suck
Allen-Blevins, C. R., Sela, D. A., & Hinde, K. (2015). Milk Bioactives May Manipulate Microbes to Mediate Parent-Offspring Conflict. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, eov007. http://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eov007
Contact us:
Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
1 hr 2 min
April 10, 2015Episode 12 - "You want to filter out the ducks" Tides
Tides pull and deform the surface of the ocean and the surface of the Earth. This week we’ll take a quick tour of tidal forces, address some show feedback, and then talk about a revision on a classic physics problem.
Tides
Tides are a result of gravitational interaction of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, but are of course a factor on many other planets as well.
Gravity is the key to remember and that it varies linearly with mass, but with the inverse square of displacement.
Ocean Tides
The most familiar example is ocean tides. These are important for commerce, safety, and for sedimentary processes.
Sedimentary layers called tidal rythmites
Cool tide visualization from Calculated Images
General cycle is a flood tide raises water levels until high tide. Then an ebb tide takes water back out until low tide is reached. When the tidal stream stops and reverses it is a slack tide.
Generally occur with 24-hour or 12-hour period, can have a complex shape.
Another kind of clock, a tide clock, has been made to show this.
Spring tide has nothing to do with the season.
When planets are aligned, it’s called a syzygy. Word of the week.
A really nice mathematical introduction can be found here.
Tide Gauges
A pole with markings that we read off of
A float and weight on a pulley attached to a paper chart recorder
Pressure gauges or bubbler pressure measurement
Acoustic gauges or radar gauges (time of flight)
There is a whole mess of datums and standards that go into this, but let’s not go there today!
And rocks of course!!
Solid Earth Tide
The same forceings as ocean tides, but we are actually moving the surface of the planet here. Very important for GPS and scientific measurements. Large particle accelerators actually compensate for their deformation.
The largest displacements are around 55 cm!
Needed to explain the Earth’s nutation
Lunar Tidal Heating
Tidal Locking
We can only see one side of the moon because it is tidally locked. It rotates at the same rate that it orbits the Earth.
Checkout the Minute Earth video on tidal locking!
Feedback/Followup
We got an audio suggestion from listener Stacey about Episode 2 (field gear). She suggested attaching your field pencil to a retractable ID clip so you don’t lose it.
John has an update on the Jot Script 2 stylus!
Fun Paper Friday
We’ve all had to solve the classic physics problem of what would happen if you dug a tunnel through the center of the Earth and jumped in. The classic answer has been that you’ll move like a damped oscillator and that your fall will take about 42 minutes. By improving some of the assumptions that are used, that answer has been improved.
Klotz, A. R. (2015). The gravity tunnel in a non-uniform Earth. American Journal of Physics, 83(3), 231–237. doi:10.1119/1.4898780
Contact us:
Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
1 hr 4 min
April 03, 2015Episode 11 - "It was windy"
This week we talk about another branch of earth science, meteorology. We discuss the upcoming severe weather season and Shannon’s close call with a tornadic storm. Also updates on past stories, feedback, and fun paper friday!
Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability
The Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability
The Brunt Väisälä frequency
Story Updates and Feedback
Nasa has decided to go with the boulder snatch technique for an asteroid mission launching in 2020
If you like space news and talk, checkout “The Orbital Mechanics” podcast.
A very early copy of William Smith’s map has been rediscovered at the geological society. You can view a digitized version of the map online.
More on the mysterious radio bursts
We got some feedback about levels (thanks Celena B.) and a problem with the show logo (thanks Ross K.). We hope we have corrected both. Please keep the feedback coming in!
Severe Weather
We encourge you to learn your way around and use the National Weather Service webpage.
Also checkout the National Severe Storms Laboratory and the Storm Prediction Center.
For one of the most severe weather prone areas, Oklahoma, these three organizations are co-located in the National Weather Center
Communicating weather information, or an probabilistic information is actually really difficult.
Doing a hand analysis of data is still crucial to weather prediction. For example the analyst knows about isobar kinking.
Oklahoma Mesonet
Checkout the email “The Ticker" from the mesonet
Checkout if your local weather service office offers storm spotter training classes and get to know your branch meteorologist
John had a relevant blog post that talked about what an expert is and how important it is to know the fundamentals.
Have a disaster plan and know what to do during an emergency! This applies to field geology work just as much.
Fun Paper Friday
This week is April fools, so we have a laugh with the Journal Nature. This week we learn about the coming back of dragons and climate change.
Hamilton, A. J., May, R. M., & Waters, E. K. (2015). Zoology: Here be dragons. Nature, 1–2. doi:10.1038/520042a
Contact us:
Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
41 min
March 27, 2015Episode 10 - "I've been everywhere man"
We’ve both been on the road recently and decided to cut together a show to share our travels with you. This week Shannon will take us into the field in NM with her students, and John will take us to Lamont for a seismology student workshop.
Shannon’s Trip
Shannon took her mapping class to the field for a mapping exercise. Her trip went far better than imagined.
Palo Duro Canyon “The Grand Canyon of Texas"
Field Guide for NM Site
A surprising number of student’s hadn’t been camping before, but the school’s rec. center will rent camping equipment out to students.
BLM Hoodoo trail hike
Students got to look for gastroliths
John’s Trip
John was at the Third Annual Seismology Student Workshop at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. We got to interview one of the organizers, Zach Eilon.
A few of the talks that appealed to the instrumentation nut in John were about the MERMAIDS project and using trains as a seismic source.
Organizers had students introduce themselves and make a crowd-sourced mind-map of what people wanted to talk about in breakout sessions. This worked incredibly well and there were many great discussions.
There is also a google doc setup so that everyone can continue discussing and recommending papers related to discussions we had.
John met more people interested in combining science and technology development in their academic career.
Fun Paper Friday
Have you ever tried to parallel park and thought that there just has to be a better way? As part of our “better living through math” series, we bring you: Blackburn, S. R. (2009). The geometry of perfect parking.
How Round is Your Circle (Bryant)
A Book of Curves (Lockwood)
Ackermann Steering Geometry
Contact us:
Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
59 min
March 20, 2015Episode 9 - "There's an app for that"
This week we thought it would be a good idea to recap some of the apps that we use on a daily basis to get our work done. We want to explicitly state that we are fully unsponsored and that these are just our opinions, not official recommendations or endorsements We chose iPhone/iPad apps since that’s what we and many of our colleagues use. A lot of these are transferrable to the Android or other platforms. Don’t tune out or you’ll miss some tips that will help you, no matter what the platform you use is.
John’s App Picks
Omnifocus (Task management)
Overcast (Podcasts)
Drafts (Quick notes)
DarkSky (Weather)
RadarScope (Weather)
ScannerPro/Smile PDFpen Scan+ (Mobile document scanning)
Dropbox/Carousel (Mobile access to documents and photo sync)
Fantastical (Easy calendar viewing/entry)
Newsify (Keep up with RSS feeds)
Papers3 (Reading papers and paper management)
Shannon’s App Picks
Evernote
Penultimate
WxTap
EarthPrimer
clinoFieldMove
iGeolog
Trimble outdoors MyTopo maps
GeoFieldBook
iGeology (Britain’s rocks in your pocket)
Misc Links
Getting Things Done by David Allen (Book)
43 Folders
Fun Paper Friday
This week we read about building sandcastles! Turns out that a lot of the worlds energy (about 10%) goes to handling granular materials and that we can learn a lot by examining simple sand.
Pakpour, M., Habibi, M., Møller, P., & Bonn, D. (2012). How to construct the perfect sandcastle. Scientific Reports, 2. doi:10.1038/srep00549
Contact us:
Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
55 min
March 13, 2015Episode 8 - "Canal Side Geologist" Making Maps
What is a geologic map?
Conveys many sorts of geologic information
The whole basis of field geology
Can be a surface,bedrock, subsurface, resource, soil, etc. map
Making the Map
Start off with your field gear…like we talked about in episode 2. We said episode 1 in the show, but that was wrong!
Have a base map (Geomorphologic map—we call these topos)…you need to know where you are at
You can use an iPad/GPS with pre-loaded topo maps, or you just have your paper basemap.
John likes the Garmin 62S GPS unit
You don’t want to become too reliant technology in the field because it could be a life or death situation
You need to have done your research before you go
History of geologic maps
Book: The map that changed the world, by Simon Winchester
1793 [William Smith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Smith_(geologist), who was a surveyor working for canal builders, was paying attention to all the layers of rock that he was digging through
He noticed that he could trace the different layers of rock that were stacked on each other
He also noticed the different fossils inside them meant that the rocks were the same age and could be traced all over
Would study coal seams, which could be easily traced and spent much time in coal mines all over England
His work was highly plagiarized, causing him to go bankrupt and into debtor’s prison
Bestowed the Wollaston Medal by the Geological Society of London in 1831
Known as the father of English geology
Modern Tools
USGS mapview
Aerial Photos
Drones
Fun Paper Friday
This week we go over a paper that discusses one of Shannon’s favorite sayings: All Models Are Wrong, but Some Are Useful, Field (2015)
Three main points:
1) “Given all models are wrong, what we really hope is that any new model is more useful than its predecessors and that the value added exceeds the total development costs.”
2) “It still remains to be seen how long we will need to wait for definitive results on usefulness under various conditions.”
3) “Not only are all models wrong, but their relative usefulness varies depending on location and the specific loss metric of interest.”
Contact us:
Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
42 min
March 06, 2015Episode 7 - "We don't have ancient Greeks on other planets"
This week we talk about how sciences can weight a planet, discuss gravity, and the explosion of a military weather satellite while in orbit.
Weather Satellite Explodes
Ways to Measure Planetary Mass
Geometric (size and density), this doesn’t always work well
By triangulation and measurement of orbits of natural or artificial satellites.
Gravity
All stems from Newton’s Law of Gravitation. Which is really a controversy between Newton and Hooke.
Gravitational constant based on the Cavendish torsion balance experiment.
Measurement of the constant is difficult since it is small and we cannot measure outside of a gravitational field.
With this and Kepler’s Laws, we can solve most simple problems by hand!
Planetary Ranging
A variety of ranging techniques can be used, including:
Radio reflection
Laser reflection
Triangulation
Fun Paper Friday
THE ASTEROID REDIRECT MISSION AND SUSTAINABLE HUMAN EXPLORATION, Gates et al.
This week we talk about capturing an asteroid with a bag and a pull string, or a spider like lander. The asteroid is then explored and moved into a lunar-like orbit for further study. The best part of all is that the ship will have an international docking system so anyone can go do science. A step towards open source science!
Contact us:
Show - www.dontpanicgeocast.com - @dontpanicgeo - [email protected]
John Leeman - www.johnrleeman.com - @geo_leeman
Shannon Dulin - @ShannonDulin
33 min

About Don't Panic Geocast

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John Leeman and Shannon Dulin discuss geoscience and technology weekly for your enjoyment! Features include guests, fun paper Friday selections, product reviews, and banter about recent developments.…