Roland Pease
@peaseroland.bsky.social
3.2 Gyr old tidal rhythmites in South Africa, when days were (from memory) 18hrs long, and months lasted 20 days.
Everything (apart from the Earth's orbit and the pace of evolution) was a lot faster then!
Everything (apart from the Earth's orbit and the pace of evolution) was a lot faster then!
November 25, 2025 at 11:04 PM
3.2 Gyr old tidal rhythmites in South Africa, when days were (from memory) 18hrs long, and months lasted 20 days.
Everything (apart from the Earth's orbit and the pace of evolution) was a lot faster then!
Everything (apart from the Earth's orbit and the pace of evolution) was a lot faster then!
My phone camera struggled to capture its beauty.
November 23, 2025 at 11:36 AM
My phone camera struggled to capture its beauty.
Actually that's hard after Bsky compression squeezed out the resolution.
Let's see if this makes it easier.
Let's see if this makes it easier.
November 22, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Actually that's hard after Bsky compression squeezed out the resolution.
Let's see if this makes it easier.
Let's see if this makes it easier.
Spot the ammonite
November 22, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Spot the ammonite
The bit R4Today chose to highlight from its two awful COVID report interviews.
That "without [Johnson's] drive, we wouldn't have had the vaccine rollout".
This untested assertion was made after both Gove & Webb had dismissed the 23,000 avoidable deaths fig in the report as mere "model projections".
That "without [Johnson's] drive, we wouldn't have had the vaccine rollout".
This untested assertion was made after both Gove & Webb had dismissed the 23,000 avoidable deaths fig in the report as mere "model projections".
November 21, 2025 at 12:14 PM
The bit R4Today chose to highlight from its two awful COVID report interviews.
That "without [Johnson's] drive, we wouldn't have had the vaccine rollout".
This untested assertion was made after both Gove & Webb had dismissed the 23,000 avoidable deaths fig in the report as mere "model projections".
That "without [Johnson's] drive, we wouldn't have had the vaccine rollout".
This untested assertion was made after both Gove & Webb had dismissed the 23,000 avoidable deaths fig in the report as mere "model projections".
Water is being pumped out of Iran's aquifers so aggressively to sustain it's growing agriculture in semi-arid terrain that they can see the land subside from outer space - at rates up to 30-40 cm per year I hear. Iran depends on this unsustainable groundwater abstraction for ~50% of it's supplies.
November 20, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Water is being pumped out of Iran's aquifers so aggressively to sustain it's growing agriculture in semi-arid terrain that they can see the land subside from outer space - at rates up to 30-40 cm per year I hear. Iran depends on this unsustainable groundwater abstraction for ~50% of it's supplies.
There are certainly older claimed fossils - these stromatolites are older (as I recall - I was less of a fossil when pictured there) - but also many more claims that have been successfully contested.
November 20, 2025 at 1:39 PM
There are certainly older claimed fossils - these stromatolites are older (as I recall - I was less of a fossil when pictured there) - but also many more claims that have been successfully contested.
It was isotopic "stains" that led Minik Rosing (~30 yrs ago) to assert the carbon in these 3.75Gyr Greenland rocks was from earliest life. The new work looks so much more powerful.
November 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
It was isotopic "stains" that led Minik Rosing (~30 yrs ago) to assert the carbon in these 3.75Gyr Greenland rocks was from earliest life. The new work looks so much more powerful.
Looking cheerful in the morning sun.
November 20, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Looking cheerful in the morning sun.
And this is now (as of September).
All gone.
All gone.
November 18, 2025 at 9:51 PM
And this is now (as of September).
All gone.
All gone.
Looking into the water crisis in Iran has taken me to the fate of Lake Urmia, c.1270m altitude in the country's northwest, shrinking owing to water overuse for decades. A restoration plan started 10 years ago appeared to help briefly, but aridity since 2020 has reversed gains. Landsat images.
November 18, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Looking into the water crisis in Iran has taken me to the fate of Lake Urmia, c.1270m altitude in the country's northwest, shrinking owing to water overuse for decades. A restoration plan started 10 years ago appeared to help briefly, but aridity since 2020 has reversed gains. Landsat images.
Useful thread, but while reading it keep in mind the later "continuing current trends" scenario in mind, "could lead to 4°C warming" by end century. Because that's where the stop-net-zero crew will send us.
The downward trends of the earlier scenarios look appealing, but they have to be worked for.
The downward trends of the earlier scenarios look appealing, but they have to be worked for.
November 18, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Useful thread, but while reading it keep in mind the later "continuing current trends" scenario in mind, "could lead to 4°C warming" by end century. Because that's where the stop-net-zero crew will send us.
The downward trends of the earlier scenarios look appealing, but they have to be worked for.
The downward trends of the earlier scenarios look appealing, but they have to be worked for.
And picking up on your blog with @jeremyfaust.bsky.social on Bhattacharya/Memoli's proposed restrictions on viral research, here is RGW on their ventures into China, *during the cultural revolution*, to work out how new subtypes of flu keep emerging.
I believe that effort was foundational.
I believe that effort was foundational.
November 17, 2025 at 6:30 PM
And picking up on your blog with @jeremyfaust.bsky.social on Bhattacharya/Memoli's proposed restrictions on viral research, here is RGW on their ventures into China, *during the cultural revolution*, to work out how new subtypes of flu keep emerging.
I believe that effort was foundational.
I believe that effort was foundational.
I was just looking at some old papers by Robert Webster I'd archived about the '57 and '68 pandemics, and marveled at the trouble it took back then (1972) using peptide mapping to work out what the heck was going on.
Grateful for what the pioneers did, and what scientific progress gives us now.
Grateful for what the pioneers did, and what scientific progress gives us now.
November 17, 2025 at 6:01 PM
I was just looking at some old papers by Robert Webster I'd archived about the '57 and '68 pandemics, and marveled at the trouble it took back then (1972) using peptide mapping to work out what the heck was going on.
Grateful for what the pioneers did, and what scientific progress gives us now.
Grateful for what the pioneers did, and what scientific progress gives us now.
Thanks to listener Fred White for this letter to Radio Times about the ending of Science in Action on the #BBCWorldService - "required listening".
"At a time when the lights of reason are dimming across the world, cancellation of this vital prog is a sad and myopic decision by BBC planners." Indeed.
"At a time when the lights of reason are dimming across the world, cancellation of this vital prog is a sad and myopic decision by BBC planners." Indeed.
November 17, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Thanks to listener Fred White for this letter to Radio Times about the ending of Science in Action on the #BBCWorldService - "required listening".
"At a time when the lights of reason are dimming across the world, cancellation of this vital prog is a sad and myopic decision by BBC planners." Indeed.
"At a time when the lights of reason are dimming across the world, cancellation of this vital prog is a sad and myopic decision by BBC planners." Indeed.
Charles Pub in Benidorm from Google maps.
November 15, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Charles Pub in Benidorm from Google maps.
And next it will be the 11 hottest years were the past 11.
Then 12 hottest ...
... 13 hottest ...
Because I doubt we'll see anything like 2014 or before
(even a Pinatubo eruption won't make that much of a difference)
Then 12 hottest ...
... 13 hottest ...
Because I doubt we'll see anything like 2014 or before
(even a Pinatubo eruption won't make that much of a difference)
November 15, 2025 at 10:25 AM
And next it will be the 11 hottest years were the past 11.
Then 12 hottest ...
... 13 hottest ...
Because I doubt we'll see anything like 2014 or before
(even a Pinatubo eruption won't make that much of a difference)
Then 12 hottest ...
... 13 hottest ...
Because I doubt we'll see anything like 2014 or before
(even a Pinatubo eruption won't make that much of a difference)
At a Roy Soc meeting on the origin of neural systems, one speaker proposed that, had the room been full of sponges rather than mammals (and if they could think), they'd find us chordates woefully dull at the cellular level.
November 14, 2025 at 5:06 PM
At a Roy Soc meeting on the origin of neural systems, one speaker proposed that, had the room been full of sponges rather than mammals (and if they could think), they'd find us chordates woefully dull at the cellular level.
Philadelphus, flowers in June. (And November when confused.)
November 14, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Philadelphus, flowers in June. (And November when confused.)
On the other hand ...
November 12, 2025 at 12:36 PM
On the other hand ...
I always like to think the first tentative blooms on chaenomeles are a sign of good things around the corner.
November 7, 2025 at 2:55 PM
I always like to think the first tentative blooms on chaenomeles are a sign of good things around the corner.
3I Atlas antiscience derangement reaches Capitol Hill ... with a hint of nominative determinism.
November 3, 2025 at 10:18 PM
3I Atlas antiscience derangement reaches Capitol Hill ... with a hint of nominative determinism.
Front page of the Science in Action webpage today, with even more feel of finality.
On the left hand side: The BBC brings you all the week's science news.
On the right hand side: No upcoming broadcasts.
On the left hand side: The BBC brings you all the week's science news.
On the right hand side: No upcoming broadcasts.
November 3, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Front page of the Science in Action webpage today, with even more feel of finality.
On the left hand side: The BBC brings you all the week's science news.
On the right hand side: No upcoming broadcasts.
On the left hand side: The BBC brings you all the week's science news.
On the right hand side: No upcoming broadcasts.