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Ele Willoughby @minouette.bsky.social · 2h

I vote for minerals for their art & physics applications & the new #OreCup is making it hard pitting 2 strong contenders against each other! Found worldwide Copper & Galena have been used since antiquity (see early Galena smelting via Agricola). Both used for pigments (verdigris in this Van Eyck)…

Smelting metals: Galena is one of the easiest ores to smelt. It can simply be placed in a fire and then lead can be recovered from under the ashes when the fire goes out. Archaeologists have found evidence that lead was smelted as early as 6500 BC in what is now Turkey. Small amounts of silver were refined from lead by the Romans about 2000 years ago. Public domain image by Georgius Agricola showing a woodcut of a man moving molten metal with a pole next to brick furnaces with blazing fires giving off smoke. There are tools nearby and strangely a dog in the background.

Jan Van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434 (via the National Gallery London)

The Arnolfini Portrait (or The Arnolfini Wedding, The Arnolfini Marriage, the Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife, or other titles) is an oil painting on oak panel by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck, dated 1434 and now in the National Gallery, London. It is a full-length double portrait, believed to depict the Italian merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, presumably in their residence at the Flemish city of Bruges.

He wears a fur-lined cloak and large black hat. She wears a vivid green gown with blue underdress and white veil. There is a red bed and bench behind them, a small dog and sandals on the floor and a circular convex mirror behind them. The scene is lit by a window and a chandelier hangs above them.

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 10h

Forrest Smith, the only National Park Service engineer cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells, lost his contract, leaving 93 orphaned wells on park lands unmanaged. These leaking wells release methane and toxins, threatening human health and the environment.

He Alone Tracked Leaky Oil Wells in National Parks. He Was Let Go.

www.nytimes.com

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Colleen Durkin @cadurkin.bsky.social · 22h

I want to see the particles that sink carbon to the deep ocean, all the time and in real time.This summer we built an instrument that collects images of sinking particles every second, and visualizes them in 5 different ways. @mbarinews.bsky.social
youtu.be/4xXGlnCoik8

How MBARI scientists are studying the ocean’s carbon flux in real time

YouTube video by MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)

youtu.be

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lafoule17.bsky.social @lafoule17.bsky.social · 4h

No, I was not ‘bored’. Researching the efficacy of measuring tapes in tabby hypnosis is hard science 😤x

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Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 13h

Some people waited in line up for 14 hours to receive a food box from a church giveaway.

500 people volunteered to help and they still ran out of food.

Remember for every one person a food bank feeds, SNAP feeds 9.

By turning off food assistance the regime is starving Americans.

Woman sits in car for 14 hours to get food during New Birth Baptist church food giveaway

More than 2,000 people waited in their cars in line Saturday morning in order to receive food.

www.11alive.com

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Doug Parr @dougparr.bsky.social · 9h

1/3 🧵🧵

Details are emerging of intimidation tactics used by USA delegation to derail climate action on shipping at the International Maritime Organisation

“It’s like dealing with the Mob” said one veteran of the talks

www.ft.com/content/4e0a...

US accused of ‘bully-boy’ tactics to sink climate deal

Officials say ‘threats’ used to derail net zero deal for shipping industry ripped up rules of global diplomacy

www.ft.com

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Vicky Veritas @vickyveritas.bsky.social · 14h

Remember dendrites (from the Greek word dendron meaning tree)? They are tree-like minerals that form under special conditions. There is a lovely dendritic #copper sample on the upper right. Thanks Susie! More in comment 👇🏼

#OreCup25 #MinCup25 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology 🔭🪐

Susie Leopold @blastylavagrrrl.bsky.social · 15h

Michigan has historically been a source for beautiful, and useful, #copper. Specifically, the Upper Peninsula contains the largest native copper deposits!

Copper from Carnegie Natural History and Cranbrook Institute.

Vote copper for Michigan!

#OreCup #MinCup

Pennsylvania copper from Adams County. On the left is a polished orb, on the right is dendritic copper.

Dancing llama dendritic copper from Houghton County, Michigan.

Crystalline copper ball within white mineral cavity.

Copper with squiggly branches from a mass, there is some color variation from fresh orange and red to slightly tarnished green.

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Kerstin Neuhaus @microtopico.bsky.social · 11h

In today's #OreCup25 I vote for #galena because of its historic use as a pigment.

Look at this shiny sample from the Harz Mountains/Germany!

📸 Rob Lavinsky

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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks 💎 @nadwgab.bsky.social · 3h

307 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Hummerite:
- A potassium magnesium vanadate mineral
- Forms via the leaching of vanadium oxide ores
- Named after its type locality Hummer Mine in Paradox Valley, Colorado, USA #minerals #MineralMonday

Orange veins of hummerite, resembling lichen, in grey clay. From Hummer, Colorado, USA.

Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks 💎 @nadwgab.bsky.social · 4h

306 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Leadhillite:
- A carbonate mineral
- Has a high density since it contains lead (~2.5 times more dense than quartz)
- Can be yellow, blue or green
- Forms in the oxidised zone of lead deposits
- Named after Leadhills in Scotland, its type locality #minerals #MineralMonday

Translucent, pale yellow and green leadhillite crystals with some bright blue caledonite on matrix. From Leadhills, Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK.

Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.

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Dr. Judith Hubbard @judithgeology.bsky.social · 4h

The Museum of the Earth isn't just a place to marvel at the physical record of how life evolved on Earth - it also provides virtual access to that collection with remarkable 3D models!

www.priweb.org/blog-post/vi...

Since Saturday, 51 people donated $4115 to keep the museum open. Help if you can.

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Rick Thoman @alaskawx.bsky.social · 21h

Sea ice extent in the Chukchi Sea remains high for the 21st century for November 1. With only 33 percent of the Chukchi still open water, this is the highest ice extent for the date since 2001. Also starting to get ice in protected bays/brackish waters in the northern Bering. #akwx #Arctic #SeaIce

Left: Chukchi Sea daily sea ice extent each year 1979-2025 with the past two seasons and the smoothed 1991-2020 median highlighted. Right: NWS Alaska Region sea ice concentration analysis to November 1, 2025.

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Rick Thoman @alaskawx.bsky.social · 22h

Not what people ANYWHERE on the Pacific coast need. #akwx #AlaskaSky

"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is halting a contract that makes it possible for the federal agency to…monitor for potential tsunamis…and quickly warn at-risk communities."

alaskapublic.org/news/alaska-...

NOAA cancels funding for data collection crucial to tsunami warning systems

The Alaska Earthquake Center has long provided NOAA with seismic data for tsunami monitoring and warning purposes. That work will wind down in November, after the federal agency said it can no longer ...

alaskapublic.org

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 4h

Simulated reconstruction of November #Arctic sea ice thickness since 1901. Watch for the last 10 years or so...

Information about this data set is available at psc.apl.uw.edu/research/pro.... Note that it is only updated through 2010 due to ERA-20C forcing.

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Dr. Or M. Bialik |📚|🔬|🌊|⚒️ @obialik.bsky.social · 9h

When I was growing up, someone told me that green potatoes are toxic because they have cyanide in them. That's, of course, absolutely wrong. Green potatoes are poisonous because they have solanine in them. 🧪

Link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Dots and Lines @dotsandlines.bsky.social · 9h

I'm on #TeamCopper. I wrote a nostalgic and geeky song about it, and if we can get it to the next round, that'll be the push I need to record it properly. #OreCup #music

Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 16h

#OreCup is launching with two famous & beloved ore minerals, #Galena vs #Copper!

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/vote-results...
Results: www.mineralcup.org/vote-results...

You have 24 hours to campaign. Go!

www.mineralcup.org

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Prehistoric Wirral @prehistoricwirral.bsky.social · 8h

Galena was a mineral in use for it's properties since the Stone Age. Learn more about the mineral and vote in the mineral #OreCup #Galena #MineralMonday
www.mineralcup.org/vote-results...

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Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 8h

The first match in #OreCup is on now as #Galena and #Copper battle for your vote. Do you favour the lead ore or the native metal?

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/vote-results...
Results:

www.mineralcup.org

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Owen Missen @scimissionowen.bsky.social · 4h

a reason to vote for galena in #OreCup!

Prehistoric Wirral @prehistoricwirral.bsky.social · 10d

#FindsFriday
🪨A Neolithic scraper made from a breccia of Galena. It shows wear from use; perhaps a status implement. Galena is a sulphide mineral which has anti-microbial properties, which would have been useful in processing hides🐄🐐🐏
#Archaeology #Prehistory #Neolithic #Wirral

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Vicky Veritas @vickyveritas.bsky.social · 16h

The Flemish masters painted on #copper as it provided a smooth surface that allowed fine detail and durability of their exquisite works, like this self portrait of Rembrandt.

#OreCup25 #MinCup25 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology 🔭🪐

Self-portrait of Rembrandt, 1630. An example of oil painting on copper.

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Dr. Robin Bond, biogeochemist at a PUI 🧪 @diygeochemist.bsky.social · 11h

Let's go galena!!!

Galena is lead sulfide. We tend to think first of lead's health consequences, but the reality is that it was historically a very significant metal. It was relatively unreactive, easy to work, and had a low melting point....

Mineral Cup & Ore Cup @mineralcup.bsky.social · 16h

#OreCup is launching with two famous & beloved ore minerals, #Galena vs #Copper!

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/vote-results...
Results: www.mineralcup.org/vote-results...

You have 24 hours to campaign. Go!

www.mineralcup.org

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FrankenGardner @glacierpique.bsky.social · 12h

Welcome back!
#OreCup ⚒️ 🧪

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FrankenGardner @glacierpique.bsky.social · 12h

Native element #Copper sparked the curiosity and ingenuity of prehistoric civilizations, and remains indispensable to modern technologies.

Cu is both essential to life and antimicrobial.

#OreCup ⚒️ 🧪

Images from mindat.org “Best Of” article.

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Vicky Veritas @vickyveritas.bsky.social · 16h

Naturally occurring pure copper is called “native” copper & is formed in veins & fractures by super-heated mineral-rich fluids often associated with volcanic activity. My sample shown below. Get the lead out & vote #copper!

#OreCup25 #MinCup25 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology 🔭🪐

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