Earth News Interviews

In this episode, we discuss both the engineering and socio-political problem that nuclear waste storage has posed since the 1940's. Dealing with tonnes of radioactive waste that needs to be safely stored for hundreds of thousands of years is no easy feat, and as such it has been passed off to every new generation of scientists and engineers. Dr. Donald Davis has worked with radioactive elements in more ways than one in the Jack Satterly Geochronology Laboratory at the University of Toronto. We ask him about his research for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization and what it will take to pave the way for for a cleaner, carbon-free energy industry. 

Primary Readings Discussed: 

Long term nuclear waste storage solutions

Governing nuclear waste

In this episode of Earth News Interviews, we discuss the events which added oxygen to our oceans and atmosphere. We get into the importance of oxygen for life, the stability of Earth's systems, and even the search for other planetary life.

Primary readings discussed:

Breathing new life into the rise of oxygen debate

In this episode of Earth News Interviews, we discuss scientific journals. What kinds of scientific papers get produced and what kinds of journals accept them? How might review journals be of use to aspiring undergrad and grad students? What is it like to have your work peer reviewed or be the reviewer?

Primary readings discussed:

Types of journal articles

In the episode of Earth News Interviews, we discuss the current COVID-19 pandemic and the surprising links between pathogens and the earth sciences. How can earth scientists contribute to the study of new outbreaks? Is there a link to climate change? How does land development and deforestation lead to disease? Tune in to learn all of this and more!

Primary readings discussed:

The Role of Earth and Space Scientists During Pandemics

The Worrisome Link Between Deforestation And Disease

In this episode of Earth News Interviews, we learn about some of the ways gold can get collected in nature via chloride or bi-sulfide complexes. We also talk about the challenges of understanding these processes through modelling, and the extraction of gold in an environmentally and socially conscious way.

Primary readings discussed:

Resolving the ‘Invisible Gold’ Puzzle

In this episode of Earth News Interviews, we discuss the surprising range of health and environmental consequences of small-scale mining operations in Peru. How does mercury affect human health? How does it get from a small mining operation to the bloodstream of people hundreds of kilometres away? Is there anything we can do?

Primary readings discussed:

Gold mining with mercury poses health threats for miles downstream

In this episode we discuss the field of Economic Geology with Dr. Melissa Anderson. We touch on many timely questions concerning the role of this field in the next century: What have we learned from its history? What are the new frontiers of mining in practice and research? Why is mining so integral in our societies and our transition to a low-carbon future?

Primary readings discussed:

The Future of Economic Geology

Mineral Resources and Sustainability: Challenges for Earth Scientists

Sustainable supply of minerals and metals key to a low-carbon energy future

In our inaugural episode of Earth News Interviews, we get into a discussion about the K-Pg extinction event with geophysicist and extinction aficionado, Dr. Charly Bank. We learn about the discovery of a flood layer in North Dakota which may have been deposited in the first hours after impact, and find out what it can tell us about that fateful day.

Primary readings discussed:

Astonishment, skepticism greet fossils claimed to record dinosaur-killing asteroid impact

The Day the Dinosaurs Died