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Nick Barber 🌋

@volcannick.bsky.social

1.7K followers 910 following 700 posts

Asst Professor, geoscientist, volcanophile magma, metals, and minerals 🌋🪨🛰️Philadelphian 🦅, father, husband. he/him. www.volcannick.com Opinions my own

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Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · Jun 27

I know the world sucks right now, but for the next week I’m going to be exclusively posting about my trip to Geneva for #IAVCEI2025. I’m presenting a poster on Thursday, and looking forward to a week of fun and cutting edge volcano science.

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Reposted by Nick Barber 🌋

Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 1d

What causes deep earthquakes--things which by our knowledge of material science shouldn't exist at all?

We've known about them for a century, known they can't fit our understanding of brittle fracture for about 60-70 years, and had ideas on 3-4 possible explanations for 50-60 years.

No answer yet.

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Reposted by Nick Barber 🌋

Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 2d

This extends beyond the humanities, I think? Just with delayed by like 10-15 years?

At least looking at how retirements aren't getting replaced in a lot of places.

Kathleen E. Kennedy @themedievaldrk.bsky.social · 2d

yeah. I might even go further--I'd been wondering for a decade or more but at this point, 900 pieces of evidence argue that some fields don't exist any longer, even if individual experts in those areas continue to exist, and I absolutely don't think we're addressing the fallout from that.

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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 1d

Grid scale batteries are changing our electricity system. Excellent new visual story on batteries in FT today shows just how far this technology has evolved.

Fasten your seatbelts, this is just the beginning.

ig.ft.com/mega-batteri...

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 3d

Listen to this episode if only for the discussion about the world-altering value of affordable higher education and Pell grants: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

'Dopesick' Writer Returns To Her 'Fractured' Hometown

Podcast Episode · Fresh Air · 10/07/2025 · 45m

podcasts.apple.com

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Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 27d

1) New paper! Replacing US fossil-fueled vehicles & appliances with electric versions could improve health & climate outcomes, but could cost up to $790 billion in distribution grid reinforcement. Strategic demand-side management could cut 2/3 of those costs.🔌💡

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

"Science for society" blurb from the paper:

In a future with clean electricity and full electrification of buildings and private vehicles, the United States would emit about half the greenhouse gas pollution than it does today. However, buildings and vehicles would also use much more electricity, especially in the coldest weather. Here, we show that reinforcing distribution grids to accommodate these new peaks in electricity demand could cost Americans $2,800–$6,400 per household. We also show that “smart electrification”—accompanying electrification with measures that mitigate electricity demand peaks, such as reducing thermal demand, improving equipment efficiencies, and coordinating device operation—could reduce grid reinforcement costs by over two-thirds. We believe that achieving an affordable, all-electric future will require cooperation between engineers to develop enabling technologies, social scientists to guide technology development toward people’s wants and needs, and policymakers to pass laws or incentives that shape technology adoption.

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Steve Elardo @steve-elardo.com · 4d

I'm incredibly honored to be a part of this team and proud of this award!!! But I'm just a very small part of this program. Anita Marshall @bakingsodavolc.bsky.social deserves all the credit for the idea, the passion, the grunt work, and for its success!!! ⚒️🧪🔭

UF Geology @ufgeology.bsky.social · 4d

🎉🏆🥳UF Geology's GeoSPACE field program has been honored with the Award for Advancing Inclusive Excellence in STEM from @agu.org!!! Led by Prof. Anita Marshall @bakingsodavolc.bsky.social, it's the first designed to be accessible to students with disabilities and other complicating life factors ⚒️🧪🔭

GeoSPACE field program honored with national award for advancing inclusive STEM education

GeoSPACE is the first geoscience field camp designed specifically to be accessible and inclusive for students and faculty with disabilities.

news.clas.ufl.edu

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Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · 4d

I want to know the owners life story. Seems like they could be the subject of a Netflix documentary

Reposted by Nick Barber 🌋

Josh Moody @byjoshmoody.bsky.social · 4d

MIT rejects "compact" proposed by the Trump administration.
MIT prez wrote: it "would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution" and "is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone."
orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart

orgchart.mit.edu

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Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · 5d

I think this is correct (🧵 for OP). 2 more issues that make this worse IMO:

1) students are loathe to disagree with each other - they seem worried about being put on blast online

2) students do too much not related to school - not talking about 2nd jobs - I mean clubs, networking, sports, etc.

William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 5d

I am under 35. All of my higher-ed teaching experience was within grad school so fairly recent. I am not some crusty boomer. And I have seen this. It has gotten worse! Far worse!

Reposted by Nick Barber 🌋

Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 5d

"Y'all. I just got ChatGPT to do everything in R for this manuscript. I mean EVERYTHING. And it's all legit and reproducible."

Congrats on your move to emeritus status, you may deal with this by giving your job to the nearest senior graduate student as it's clear you aren't interested in the work.

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Sarah McLaughlin @sarahemclaugh.bsky.social · Jun 18

POV: you're a baseball and this is the last thing you see

klye schwarber outside a wawa pointing at a delicious iced beverage

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pork, cheese, broccoli rabe @garlicbuffalo.gobirds.biz · 9d

the only reason the defense looked like shit in the 4th was because the offense wasn’t playing complimentary football

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Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · 9d

Refs were bad but boy were we asking for a loss like that. Offense needs to wake up. Hopefully this is the jolt they need

Reposted by Nick Barber 🌋

Adam Rawnsley @arawnsley.bsky.social · 10d

C'mon, boys

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Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · 10d

Uni administrators seem to follow cues from their peers - hopefully this sets a new trend!

Reposted by Nick Barber 🌋

Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 10d

In this time of US federal gov't shutdown, let's remember that public funding (NSF, NOAA, ONR) made that view possible. Fieldwork is often unpredictable, humbling, exhilarating and unforgettable.. and necessary in so many science disciplines. (3/3) 🧪🌊🌋

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Dr. Kenna Harmony Rubin @kennarubin.bsky.social · 10d

🧪🌊🌋 Many scientists have a single field moment that changes how they see their work. Mine is in this video clip. What’s yours?

Video source is in the clip - see more below (1/3)

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Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · 11d

Good news for those following the egregious suspension of Dr Dixon at UNC - he’s back in the classroom! You can read his update here.

www.change.org/p/reinstate-...

We have been successful in defeating this attempt to suppress my free speech. This was always an issue that threatens all of us. I'm deeply grateful to the many people who leapt courageously to this struggle. In challenging this suspension, my goals were twofold: most urgently, to return to my classrooms and continue the important work of critically examining the world and our relationship to it with my smart, thoughtful, and curious students. Secondly, I wanted to disabuse UNC's leaders of the notion that they can infringe on our constitutional right to speak and assemble as we choose.

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Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · 11d

I was actually in the proximity of Ringgit last year! My colleague and I have published a a bit about on centers like Ringgit. A lot more to think about for sure….

Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · 11d

It would be cool to look at whether these earlier collision pushed certain phases, like micas or garnet, to stabilize at shallower depths than usual. Could explain why you get those alkali rich shoshonites in this collisional terrane.

Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · 11d

This isn’t a novel insight or anything, it’s just crazy how strongly these lithospheric signatures can make themselves known in modern arcs!

Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · 11d

What I find so interesting is how in Java for instance, the alkali volcanic centers (not true shoshonites) erupt a mere 10 km or so behind the main call-alkaline modern arc.

So even in proximity to totally normal subduction, we get this syn-collisional melting signature.

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Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · 12d

More on my shoshonites - Bawean is less than a million years old yet it’s hundreds of km from the arc front and 600 km above the Sunda slab.

Studied early on the 20th century, I was the first to look at these rocks in decades.

They have gorgeous textures. Still don’t know why they are there!

Clinpyorxen flomercryst in XPL in Bawean thin section

Map of Bawean with respect to rest of Java arc - Bawean is in the upper right in green. Slab depth contours marked.

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Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · 12d

I started my PhD looking at shoshonites from the Indonesian back-arc: a Quaternary aged island called Bawean.

Significance is complex but generally: 1) silica deficient, highly alkali enriched implying 2) connected to deeper melting regions 3) atypical tectonic associations

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Robert Mahon @bedform.org · 12d

its this part
"If universities sign and then violate the terms of the compact, they could be forced to return any money given to them by the federal government that year as well as any private contributions." 👀

Stay in line OR ELSE

AAUP chapter @UT Austin @utaustinaaup.bsky.social · 13d

www.wsj.com/us-news/educ... UT Austin is one of the 9 schools offered a deal: accede to White House demands and get funding priority

Exclusive | White House Asks Colleges to Sign Sweeping Agreement to Get Funding Advantage

An initial round of nine schools is being asked to sign a wide-ranging accord.

www.wsj.com

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