Wired: Junk science is everywhere, and today’s research is often discredited tomorrow. This mix of academics, writers, and thinkers will help guide you through the day-to-day discoveries about the world we live in. These are the core nutrients of a good data diet.

Nature Magazine’s Summer Reading List

From Yahoo ESCONI Group – via Dave A new study suggests that phosphorus, an element that is key to life as we know it, was brought to Earth by a meteorite bombardment during the Archean eon, 3.5 billion years ago. Summary at: http://www.scienced aily.com/ releases/ 2013/06/13060415 3520.htm Journal abstract at: http://www.pnas. org/content/ early/2013/ 05/30/1303904110

From ESCONI Yahoo News Group via Dave – From the Karoo Basin of South Africa. The authors used non-destructive X-ray synchrotron computed microtomography to probe fossilized burrows. Summary at: http://www.scienced aily.com/ releases/ 2013/06/13062215 4602.htm Full on-line article at: http://www.plosone. org/article/ info%3Adoi% 2F10.1371% 2Fjournal. pone.0064978

Via Scientific American: …There’d be no fireworks without geology. Geologist High Maintenance Mom provides a great overview of the science of fireworks, explaining in kid-friendly ways how physics, chemistry and geology combine to create pyrotechnic magic. She’s a great resource to start with if you want to make your trip to see the fireworks show a fun teachable moment for your kids….

Via BigThink Paradoxically, few areas of human endeavor are as wedded to dogma as science. Time to crash the wedding.Devil in the Data deconstructs the latest findings in fields as diverse as neuroscience and sociobiology to arrive at a data-first view of emerging knowledge, the assumption being that competently done science produces first-rate questions, not answers.

Via the Christian Science Monitor: … geological forces are slowly tugging Europe toward the Americas, with an estimated time of arrival of about 220 million years from now. In a study published in the current issue of the journal Geology, a team led by researchers at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, say that they have discovered the first signs of the eventual closing of the Atlantic Ocean, in the form of an “embryonic” subduction zone off the coast of Portugal. ..

From KOAT.com via Geology.com: Jetter is talking about a 306 carat, black opal from Australia, buried in the earth for the last 400 million years. An Australian miner named Bobby discovered the stone and is now ready to share it with the world. He selected Jetter to create a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry to sell, and then share the profits. Thirteen years ago, Bobby retired from a long and hard career in the mining industry. He sold his tools and was about to call it quits, when someone handed him one last bucket of dirt. To his incredible surprise, Bobby…

From ESCONI Yahoo Groups via Dan Carlson: Another case of soft-tissue preservation. A placoderm fish from the Devonian of Australia with muscle tissue preserved is described in this article. Summary at: http://www.scienced aily.com/ releases/ 2013/06/13061314 2825.htm Journal abstract at: http://www.sciencem ag.org/content/ early/2013/ 06/12/science. 1237275

Via Vancouver Sun: Airborne laser technology has uncovered a network of roadways and canals in Cambodia, illustrating a bustling ancient city linking the country’s famed Angkor Wat temple complex. The discovery was announced late Monday in a peer-reviewed paper released early by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The laser scanning revealed a previously undocumented formally planned urban landscape integrating the 1,200-year-old temples.

From ESCONI Facebook page via member Donald Baumgartner: Lance Grande’s new book on the Green River fossils and 30 years of his research is now for sale at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Lost-World-Fossil-Lake-Snapshots/dp/0226922960/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370100966&sr=1-1&keywords=fossil+lake . I just received mine yesterday hot off the presses and it is a fine book, covering not only the fish but many other animals from this deposit.

Nice map of paleontology sites at Utah State Parks.

Via National Parks Traveler: Hidden within the sagebrush covered hills and badlands of eastern Oregon is evidence of past worlds covered by ancient forests and inhabited by strange looking beasts. Although paleontologists have been studying the area for nearly 150 years, the forces of erosion still uncover previously unknown plants and animals buried within the rocks. Many of the most dynamic finds from the John Day Fossil Beds are on display at the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center at the Sheep Rock Unit of the monument, where visitors can peer inside the fossil laboratory as paleontologists work on new finds. John…

Via the University of Machester: The first complete chemical analysis of feathers from Archaeopteryx, a famous fossil linking dinosaurs and birds, reveals that the feathers of this early bird were patterned – light in colour, with a dark edge and tip to the feather – rather than all black, as previously thought.

This is well done –