Gareth Fabbro

I was interested in applying, until I saw you require 3 reference letters before shortlisting

Cummingtonite Cummingtonite-Grunerite Series.

Cummingtonite?

www.mindat.org/min-1170.html

We have a #MinCup25 champion!!

Congratulations, #Kyanite!
www.mineralcup.org/2025

After eight years of competing, another few hours to verify votes was nothing, right?

Amazing first run, #Tugtupite, and better luck next year.

Bracket of MinCup25. For each mineral, the typical appearance is shown with a small image. Of course, some minerals have multiple colours, so snippets from the images on the voting posts or the website were taken. Colored lines connect the different rounds.

And here is the updated color summary for #MinCup25!
Colorless (white-grey-black) minerals were quickly kicked out, unfortunately. Maybe next time, there can be a max color level for participation? Tenebrescent #tugtupite can participate again and take a glorious win after exposure to UV ;-)

Screenshot of first part of letter (continues in next image). Text reads: Dear Sir Adrian I write to request that in its deliberations tomorrow the Council resolves to take a principled stand to defend the scientific values written into its code of conduct. In its attempts to deal with the actions of Elon Musk FRS, the Royal Society has repeatedly failed to explain how his repudiation of those values is consistent with the code of conduct that all Fellows must adhere to as a condition of their fellowship. As is now well established, these actions include attacking Antony Fauci FRS without good cause; spreading scientific misinformation on X [through his own utterances and by relaxing controls on the platform]; recklessly and unlawfully degrading the research ecosystem of the US as part of DOGE; and bragging publicly about "feeding USAID into the wood chipper", which the Lancet estimates will cause the deaths of 14 million people, many of them children under the age of five, by 2030. The Society’s inaction extends to the recent brief exchange of correspondence between Prof Sir Paul Nurse and Mr Musk. Although there was some initial contact, when Sir Paul laid out the Society’s specific concerns there was no reply or explanation from Musk. For reasons that I’m afraid I cannot fathom, you chose once again not to enforce your code of conduct.

Screenshot of letter. Text continues: "You will be aware that the sense of bewildered dismay over this affair is shared by Royal Society Fellows, medallists and journals editors, and many thousands within the scientific community here and abroad. The Royal Society still claims to speak for scientists in the UK, but on this vital issue, its inaction represents an inexplicable rupture with values that our community holds very dear. In all this my primary concern is has been for the good standing of the Royal Society as the UK’s national academy. As I am sure you understand all too well (given your recent remarks in the wake of Mr Musk’s ill-judged speech at the Tommy Robinson rally), the country, the world at large, and the very practice of science itself face severe challenges from technologies and populist politics that foment division and ignorance. In such troubled times, people look to our established institutions to have the courage to stand by long-held values of truth and decency. It is my sincere hope the Royal Society will demonstrate tomorrow that it is just such an institution. Yours faithfully, Stephen"

I am so dismayed a the statement today from the President of the @royalsociety.org that I want to publish here the letter I wrote to him yesterday urging him to address the clear concerns of the UK scientific community.

If the racism and fascism on display at the Unite the Kingdom rally, especially from Elon Musk, are not a threat to the "values that allow science to flourish", then what is? Is racism just a "personal political opinion" that you can ignore whenever it's convenient to you, @royalsociety.org?

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

I really can't decide…

In geology it is a type of intrusion, where liquid magma travels up through older rocks as a sheet. Because igneous rocks are usually quite hard, the surrounding rock usually gets eroded first leaving what looks like a wall (or 'dyke', like the walls used to keep the sea out)

Map of Santorini and the offshore area to the east, where a series of submarine volcanic cones can be seen (the Kolumbo volcanic field). The earthquakes form a line, almost parallel to the Kolumbo cones and displaced to the southeast. This line is interpreted as the opening dyke. Also shown is how surface displacement suggests the deflation centred on Santorini and the largest, westernmost cone of the Kolumbo volcanic field.

I'd heard two theories about the cause of the seismic swarm: either fluids flowing along faults or the intrusion of magma. The fact that these swarms originated quite deep, and were coupled with deflation on Santorini and Kolumbo, does suggest that magma was moving ⚒️🧪🌋

Interesting new paper on the seismic crisis on Santorini earlier this year (right when we were trying to book our field course), suggesting that it was caused by the intrusion of a dyke.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

👏 stop 👏 requiring 👏 recommendation letters 👏 in 👏 the 👏 first 👏 round 👏 of 👏 academic 👏 job 👏 applications

From EMSC

#Earthquake (#lindol) confirmed by seismic data.⚠Preliminary info: M7.0 || 23 km E of #Bogo (#Philippines) || 7 min ago (local time 21:59:45). Follow the thread for the updates👇

British Politics' Midlife Crisis Why British Parties Can't Make Peace with Their Actual Voters

On the morning of Keir Starmer's conference speech here's a new post on an odd psychopathology in British politics - our main parties don't like the people who vote for them - the dreaded Professional Managerial Class. And so they are acting out like a divorced dad seeking cooler voters. 1/n

Governing by public opinion polls is bad enough, but this isn’t even that. It’s governing by one question in public opinion polls (vote intention) and then misinterpreting/projecting the meaning of that one question into whole policy areas.
It is a DISASTER

Unless you're an immigrant, or are married to an immigrant, in which case you'll keep charging us £3.5k every 2.5 years for an ever increasing amount of time and force us to work for free (sorry, 'volunteer') in our spare time

Semifinals! Hematite X kyanite.

I'm torn between wanting a blood stone showdown or a blue versus green duel at the end.

#minerals #MinCup25 #sciart

Woman with a nonchalant pose is dwarfed by the background as she stands on a ridge of the folded red bands of rock of the Banded Iron Formation of Hamersley Range, Australia. Photo: Masha Pastuhov, Dronesandstones

Have you ever stood on an ancient seafloor bed?

This is the banded iron formation (BIF) of Hamersley Range, Australia.

Go big #hematite !

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r3...

#MinCup25 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology 🔭🪐

A blue kyanite crystal

#MinCup25 #Kyanite ⚒️

www.mineralienatlas.de/VIEWmaxFULL....

Venice seen from a plane. A large part of the lagoon can be seen, although it is a very similar blue-green to the surrounding land. Venice is a mass of white buildings with red roofs, and some of the larger canals can be seen (as can the causeway connecting the city to the mainland)

The isthmus of Corinth from the plane. The isthmus is fairly flat, but there are mountains in the background. The Corinth Canal can be seen as a long, straight line cutting across the isthmus. The wing of the plane can also be seen, with a blue wingtip and the 'fish' logo of Aegean airlines

A closer view of the Corinth Canal (still from the plane). The canal forms a long, straight trench through the dry landscape. A knot of road and railway bridges cross the canal towards the right of the photo.

A hazy view from a plane. A small island (a few kilometres across) is seen in the foreground, and the nearest part of the island has some large hills—these are volcanic domes. In the distance, the mountains of mainland Greece can be seen.

Some photos from my recent flight to Greece: my favourite city (Venice), the Corinth Canal, and the volcanic island of Aegina

Today I’m voting for the pretty blue mineral with 2 different hardnesses depending on the direction you test it! #kyanite #MinCup25

A black and white illustration titled "Cascade Range Volcanoes," showing a 3 by 3 layout of the nine tallest peaks in the range. The art is done in a hachure sketch style.

A detail image of the illustration of Mount Rainier

A detail image from the poster of Mounts Hood and Jefferson.

New poster! Hachure illustrations of the highest Cascade Range volcanoes. This one took a lot of experimentation to get the layout right. If you or someone you know loves this area, check it out. www.etsy.com/listing/4373...

The sun rises over the pointy island of Anafi in the distance, making the whole scene orange. A small boat is sillohouetted in the foreground.

Morning.

It really is an absolute beauty parade of volcanos as we thrum along Lanzarote’s eastern littoral. Between 1730 and 1736, 32 new volcanoes were produced on the island. I don’t know if anyone had written a Five Year Plan for volcano production, but I imagine they exceeded expectations. #Schengen200

A selfie of a guy in sunglass on a black, pebbly beach. In the background you can see the layered cliffs red, black, and white cliffs of Santorini caldera.

This view never gets old…

Two black pieces of pottery with orange designs. On the left is a small jar with a long neck and a handle, which has a simple design. On the right is a shard of a much larger pot with a man in ancient Greek clothes and a large-brimmed hat.

A beaded necklace. The beads are dark blue and glassy, red and earthy, and white. The middle bead is large, and appears to be made of multiple beads stuck together.

Sign on a glass window, through which the museum can be seen ΕΚΘΕΣΗ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΛΟΓΙΚΩΝ ΕΥΡΗΜΑΤΩΝ ΠΕΡΙΟΧΗΣ ΑΕΡΟΔΡΟΜΙΟΥ EXHIBITION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDINGS FROM THE AIRPORT AREA ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ Η ΕΦΟΡΕΙΑ ΠΡΟΪΣΤΟΡΙΚΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΚΛΑΣΙΚΩΝ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΤΗΤΩΝ Τη ΕΦΟΡΕΙΑ ΒΥΖΑΝΤΙΝΩΝ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΤΗΤΩΝ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΜΕΤΑΦΟΡΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΠΙΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΩΝ ΔΙΕΘΝΗΣ ΑΕΡΟΛΙΜΕΝΑΣ ΑΘΗΝΩΝ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΟΣ ΒΕΝΙΖΕΛΟΣ MINISTRY OF CULTURE The EPHORATE OF PHEHISTORIC AND CLASSICAL ANTIQUITIES EPHORATE OF BYZANTINE ANTIQUITIES MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION ATHENS INTERINA PONALARPORT ELEFTHERIOS VENIZELOG

And of course there's a whole museum at the airport, dedicated to just the finds they made at the airport.

Crossing the Corinth Canal

Assorted dark brown and orange vases, jars, and pots arranged in a museum-style cabinet. Most are fairly plain, but a couple have geometric designs on them.

A hot, dry, dusty and empty train station

How many train stations do you know that have 3,000 year-old pottery in the underpass?

#MinCup25 look at this beauty.
@seattleminerals.bsky.social if you aren't playing this game, you are missing out. We're still in Round 1 though, so there's plenty of time to join!

Anyone know of remote paleo/bio/geo volunteer research opportunities?

I met a student from a country with no paleontology who wants to do research.