The Anthropocene
So one of the overarching research themes in the research group I’m a part of is the idea that we’ve entered a new geological epoch. Due to the obvious effect that our species has had on this planet this epoch has been named the Anthropocene. There is considerable discussion as to the Anthropocene’s origins; some argue that the Industrial Revolution is the obvious starting point but apparently ten thousand year old forest clearings are detectable in Greenlandic ice cores. No matter how you slice it, it’s an interesting concept that I’m excited to help explore.

This video from Melody Sheep (the Symphony of Science artist) is beautiful and it’s meant to advertise and open source science journal. Check out the website. I’m certainly going to be spending some time reading through there. http://elementascience.org/

Open Source Science
Open source science is kind of new and the term is probably borrowed from software development. The results of a lot of scientific research isn’t freely available to those who fund it through their tax money. Personally, I’d rather see my own research available to the public rather than behind a paywall.

In support of open source science my research group (not associated with Elementa Science but we should be!) has put out a book that’s free on PDF with articles by some amazing scientists who also happen to be nice people. I’m really lucky to get to work with some of these folks. The book is called “Surviving Sudden Environmental Change” and you can click the link be low to check it out.

http://www.upcolorado.com/book/Surviving_Sudden_Environmental_Change_ebook

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