LiveScience has an interesting story about the biotech company Colossal Biosciences.  The company is working to :”bring back” the giant moa.  Dinornis robustus lived on the south island of New Zealand up until about 600 years ago.  There were about nine separate species of moa all of which went extinct due to hunting pressure from modern humans. Colossal announced on Tuesday (July 8) that its scientists and local Indigenous partners will “bring back” the South Island giant moa (Dinornis robustus) through genetic engineering within the next 10 years. D. robustus stood up to 12 feet (3.6 meters) tall and was the largest of nine…

Start Your Rockin’ Collection – Saturday July 12 – at the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art Did you know that ordinary looking rocks can hide dazzling crystal worlds inside? Geodes are nature’s hidden treasures – spherical, hollow wonders lined with sparkling crystals! Join us as we explore the fascinating theories behind how geodes form and discover where these natural marvels are found around the world. After the presentation, you’ll get to crack open your very own geode and uncover the mystery within! Bring your own rock hammer and an old sock to collect the pieces. Each participant receives two crack-open geodes. Lecture &…

Phys.org has a story about sea level over the last 540 million years.  Sea level change is a hot topic in Earth Science.  As the Earth warms, the level will increase due to melted ice and the expansion of water.  A new paper “Phanerozoic orbital-scale glacio-eustatic variability” in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, details the change over the last 540 million years.  Looking deep into the history of the Earth, researchers can better understand the changes in the future. “Taking these rapid sea level variations into account is important for understanding the structure of the subsurface, and the applications to green…

Here’s a new paleobotany book “Ferns: Lessons in Survival From the Earth’s Most Adaptable Plants” that some of you might find interesting.  Available at most online book stores including Amazon and Kobo. Welcome to the extraordinary world of ferns – plants that have survived since prehistoric times! Ferns are the most remarkable of plants, both complex and beautiful. Among Earth’s most ancient plants, their story reveals much about our planet’s history. Ferns embarks on an exhilarating 400-million-year journey through the world of these astounding plants. It explores how ferns first evolved, how they continuously adapted to their environment and survived every mass…