Dig Deeper: Week 3 – Coastal Defences at Lyme Regis
Week three of our Dig Deeper series takes Rockwatchers to a place many consider to be the birthplace of earth sciences – Lyme Regis. Retired teacher and resident expert in geography and geology of Weymouth and its surrounding areas, Alan Holiday explores why Lyme Regis is such a haven for geologists. As a regular Rockwatch magazine contributor and field trip leader, Alan is the perfect person to show us why the underlying geology at...
The Earth’s a Pizza Recipe
Sent in by Rockwatcher, Benedict Douglas One day, when I sliced up a pizza for my dinner, I saw the inner workings of the Earth! Don’t believe me? Make a ‘Pizza Earth’ for yourself – then gobble it up afterwards! Follow these steps carefully – with an adult to help – to make a truly terrific terrestrial treat! See the Ingredients and Method below to find out how… Always make sure you have a responsible adult with you when...
Mercury Meringue Recipe
Sent in by Rockwatcher, Amina Nelson Riggott Mercury is very close to the sun and its surface has plains and mountainous areas like the moon, as well as a lot of impact craters. It was hit by lots of meteors in the ‘late heavy bombardment’ period and as well as craters. This caused lots of volcanic activity. It has a massive crater called the Caloris Basin which is nearly 1600 km wide and nearby is some unusual hilly land called ‘The...
Sun Brulee Recipe
Sent in by Rockwatcher, Amina Nelson Riggott The sun is at the centre of our solar system and it’s a ball of extremely hot gas. It’s the heaviest thing in the solar system and holds all the other planets in place by gravity. It doesn’t have any geological features as it’s a star not a planet, but if you look at its surface through a Hydrogen Alpha telescope you can see that it looks like bubbling grains with marks on (sunspots,...
Bone Cancer Diagnosed in Dinosaur
Rockwatchers interested in the fields of geology and medicine may be intrigued to read a post written by Gretchen Vogel of Science magazine that reports on some fascinating findings recently published in The Lancet Oncology confirming a bone cancer diagnosis in a dinosaur. The dinosaur bone belonged to a Centrosaurus, which was a horned, plant-eating dinosaur. This particular dinosaur, discovered in Alberta in Canada, lived...
Fossil of Hell Ant proves different killer strategy
Rockwatchers may be interested to read a post written by Lucy Hicks of Science magazine who reports on a new-found fossil which proves how an ancient species of ants known as Hell Ants – or Ceratomyrmex ellenbergeri – killed their prey differently to modern ants. Lucy writes that the scientists who wrote the paper for Current Biology believe that these ancient extinct species of ants caught and killed prey by moving its...