Author Archives: paleololigo

Scientist (Paleontology, Geochemistry, Geology); Writer (Speculative and Science Fiction, plus technical and non-technical Science); Mom to great boy on the Autism spectrum; possessor of too many hobbies.

#RealTimeChem and Powdering Fossils

Continuing on with #RealTimeChem week (@RealTimeChem on Twitter), here’s something that not too many ‘traditional’ chemists have to do, but geochemists have to do all the time. It’s not very often when you can just stick a rock into an instrument and take a geochemical measurement. Usually, the rock (or fossil, in this case) has to be powdered first.Continue reading “#RealTimeChem and Powdering Fossils”

#RealTimeChem and Preparing Geological Samples for Analysis

It’s #RealTimeChem week (@RealTimeChem on Twitter). To celebrate, I’m going to illustrate both some of the procedures we do in the laboratory and how #RealTimeChem works. I’ll also show how geochemistry, while somewhat different from ‘traditional’ chemistry (geochemists tend to have degrees in geology and not in chemistry, for example), it is still chemistry.Continue reading “#RealTimeChem and Preparing Geological Samples for Analysis”

Summer Garage

It’s that time of year again. I can finally be relatively confident that I won’t wake up in the morning to find it snowed a foot. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, but the likelihood is pretty low. At this point, I don’t live with the fear that if I park the car outside overnight, I’ll have to scrape a thick rind of ice off the car in the morning. I probably won’t be shoveling snow any more. I won’t need the snow thrower again for several months.

This is when I decide it’s time to convert from ‘winter garage’ to ‘summer garage.’Continue reading “Summer Garage”