Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 4h

My wonderful friend @geologyjohnson.bsky.social is working on early life and some controversial 2.1 billion years old fossils. Check out this article in Scientific American

www.scientificamerican.com/article/comp...

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 4h

It's a small grant but it is indeed very exciting!

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 4h

So we have a lot of fieldwork planned in Aotearoa NZ and Tasmania this coming winter & spring 🌏 as well as the 11th IAG International Conference on Geomorphology

Watch this space....

#SouthernDustscapes #Palaeoclimate #NewZealand #Tasmania #Geochronology

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 4h

We can tackle this gap by studying past dust levels and deposits (loess). But to date Southern Hemisphere has been under-studied, with a handful of sites with continuous record in comparison to 100 high-resolution terrestrial sites in Northern Hemisphere.

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 4h

Dust plays a crucial role in the Earth system. Its impacts include:
•Climate—heating/cooling the atmosphere
•Ecosystems—fertilising land & oceans, driving CO₂ uptake
•Health—contributing to respiratory & cardiovascular disease
But we still lack data on how much dust is in the atmosphere at any time.

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 4h

Together with @lydiamackenzie.bsky.social @University of Tasmania, Peter Almond @Lincoln University, Callum Rees & Alan Palmer @Massey University we will investigate aeolian deposits in New Zealand and Tasmania, developing chronologies +environmental reconstructions to trace Quaternary dusty history

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 5h

In another exciting news I am kicking off a new project generously supported by the @royalsociety.org 🙏

The title tells you the whole story: “SOUTHERN DUSTSCAPES – Reconciling scales of past dust fluxes and their impact on climate in the Southern Hemisphere.”

#LoessIsMore #Dust #Quaternary

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Reposted by Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her)

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 4d

Here is a closer look at the record low #Arctic sea ice around Svalbard currently. This coincides with the record warmth as well (check out my earlier post). Earlier last week temperatures in parts of Svalbard were more similar to July than October.

Graphic produced by cryo.met.no/en/sea-ice-i...

Line graph time series of Svalbard sea ice area for 2025 compared to 2012 2020, and the 1981-2010 average with percentiles shown. There is a large seasonal cycle.

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 4d

Oh caveat 🫂

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Reposted by Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her)

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 6d

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

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Reposted by Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her)

WATERSHED Investigations @watershed-i.bsky.social · 7d

Campaigners + local businesses claim phosphates + nitrates from the collective poo of as many as 23million chickens packed into the Wye catchment from a growing number of intensive chicken farms are driving algal blooms, harming fish + wildlife.
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www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

River Wye pollution prompts UK's largest environmental lawsuit

Livestock and water companies are accused of “extensive” pollution in the Wye, Lugg and Usk rivers.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her)

Kelly Hereid @kellyhereid.bsky.social · 7d

Sheesh - a tsunami big enough to push coral boulders 100s of m inland in the British Virgin Islands around the year 1400, likely sourced from an earthquake on the Puerto Rico Trench.

Kevin Anchukaitis @thirstygecko.bsky.social · 7d

This is cool - new paper from Hali Kilbourne et al. 'Dating a Medieval Tsunami With Uranium-Series Techniques on Caribbean Corals' agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Dating a Medieval Tsunami With Uranium‐Series Techniques on Caribbean Corals

Uranium-series analyses provide dates for 15 annually banded coral skeletons on the low Caribbean island of Anegada A subset of the corals was likely washed ashore in a Puerto Rico Trench tsunami...

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her)

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 8d

News that shocks no one: Carbon offsets do nothing for climate.

Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says

Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions

www.theguardian.com

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 9d

This supports chronological information derived from nearby Mumba Rockshelter, Lake Eyasi, Nasera Rock-shelter, and Enkapune Ya Muto Rockshelter in southern Kenya.

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 9d

The new dates provisionally bracket the entire Middle Stone Age (MSA) to Later Stone Age (LSA) transition at Olduvai between roughly 63,000 years ago (the provisional age for the youngest MSA tools in the underlying Ndutu Beds) and 34,000 years ago (the oldest LSA tools in the Naisiusiu Beds).

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 9d

Dating the Naisiusiu beds has historically been challenging due to scarce datable material. Our results now refine the Naisiusiu beds to:
• Lower Unit by 14C: 49,728±1378 cal year BP
• Middle Unit (hosting the LSA assemblage) by OSL 34.2±2.8 - 24.0±2.0 ka
• Upper Unit by OSL: 24.0±2.0 - 19.6±1.6 ka

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 9d

📣Our new paper presents new a high-resolution luminescence and radiocarbon chronology for the Naisiusiu Beds at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. This site is crucial for understanding the cultural and biological evolution of Homo sapiens in the Late Pleistocene.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 11d

This is a beautiful image

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 11d

🧩 Highlights:
• First detailed geological sequence for Dalarik-1 Cave
• New age constraints on key volcanic + sedimentary units
• Links between volcanic history and archaeological preservation in the southern Caucasus

Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 11d

Check out our new paper 👇 in Quaternary Science Reviews.
It explores the geological context of Dalarik-1 Cave (Armenia) — refining how we understand early human activity in the Aragats Volcanic Province.
By the wider @humendylab.bsky.social team

📄 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · 11d

It’s been a hectic summer and start to the academic year — full of exciting developments that I haven’t had a chance to share yet.

Over the next week I’ll be sharing a few updates — some new papers, additions to the team, a new role, and a brand-new project 👀

Stay tuned — lots of news coming soon!

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Reposted by Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her)

Dr Dan Shugar 🇨🇦 @watershedlab.bsky.social · 12d

🚨FOUR tenure track positions in my dept @ucalgary.bsky.social @ucalgaryscience.bsky.social in applied & computational geophysics, subsurface geochemistry, sedimentary geology, and sustainable soil science. careers.ucalgary.ca/search/jobs?...

(please reskeet widely!) #academicsky 🧪⚒️🇨🇦

Opportunities matching 'earth'

Search 4 Careers available at University of Calgary.

careers.ucalgary.ca

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Reposted by Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her)

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife.com · Aug 14

The global phenomenon of “bikelash” has become one of the biggest barriers to implementing interventions that make our streets more liveable, accessible and sustainable. So how do we best manage it as advocates for change? Here are eight strategies we recently presented at the Velo-city Conference.🧵

Powerpoint slides from a presentation entitled “Unleashing the Silent Majority to Beat Bikelash”, which feature photographs of urban transformation from cities around the world.

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Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · Aug 6

always is👍

Dr Kaja Fenn (she/her) @drloessismore.bsky.social · Aug 5

Our new study lead produced enhanced paleo‑geomorphological mapping of the Ararat Depression to decode how shifting landforms shaped human movement and settlement in the Late Pleistocene
doi.org/10.1016/j.qu...

@humendylab.bsky.social @arikmalinsky-b.bsky.social @yannismicrooikon.bsky.social

Redirecting

doi.org

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