Matt Brueseke

A rock closeup. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Kevin M. Gill

A rock closeup. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Kevin M. Gill

A beautiful closeup of a rock taken by the Mars Perseverance Rover using the WATSON camera this weekend on Sol 1644. The first image is under sunlight and the second is at night and under white LEDs.

Zoom in a check out those mineral grains!

flic.kr/p/2rxEeHT
flic.kr/p/2rxLkc9

It’s definitely leave no trace

Museum piece :) ..

US geological survey rock standard powders. These are original, 1st generation.

Boxing up 1st generation USGS rock powder standards (for whole rock geochemical or isotope analyses). AGV-1! Etc. ⚒️

Lego mineral set

Lego rhodocrosite

Lego mineral night! Will trade… for actual Sweet Home rhodocrosite 🧪⚒️

I’ve never seen anything written, but that’s a great question. People are defintly into the mineral /gold prospecting shows.

Large clinopyroxene (titanaugite) crystal takes up much of field of view. Tin plane cuts from top left to bottom right separating twins showing different interference colours. Multiple concentric zones apparent in finer oscillation of interference colours. Plagioclase and olivine groundmass surrounds the phenocryst.

Spectacular concentric zoning and twinning of large titanaugite in essexite (nepheline monzogabbro) from Lennoxtown, Scotland. Plagioclase inclusions within the phenocryst align with zoning just as proximal groundmass plagioclase align with its edge. #ThinSectionThursday 🧪⚒️

AI map?! Really?

This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important

Kansas cancer survivor fears for health care as Congress weighs premium tax credit extension • Kansas Reflector Dawn Wheeler, a small business owner in Edwardsville, receives treatment for her metastatic breast cancer almost weekly.

Kansas cancer survivor fears for health care as Congress weighs premium tax credit extension | via @anna-writes.bsky.social #ksleg

Ok, I’m extremely jealous…wow, this would an amazing show

here are some helpful steps for academics who are considering creating genAI images to use for lab branding:

1. don't

That was crazy, lol. Reds might get in also!

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

For those anxiously awaiting it: the NSF GRFP solicitation is out, with a November 14 deadline for Geoscience applicants: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Yep

Paramour coffee, just down the street, is incredible!

paramourcoffee.com/pages/about-us

I'm giving social media a go after a hiatus, so hi! I'm a Kiwi volcanologist working on Ngāuruhoe (Mt Doom) in NZ, the 2021 La Palma/Tajogaite eruption impacts, seafloor geologic hazards, & collaborate w. @geotenerife.bsky.social.
More on my work here: janinekrippner.weebly.com
Nice to meet you❤️🌋

We are advertising for a 3-year "Senior Research Associate in Volcanic Petrology and Stratigraphy". Part of a Leverhulme-funded interdisciplinary research grant "Volcanic Histories", focused on research in the Eastern Caribbean.

Closing: October 15th
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

It worked out fine, but should not have occurred.

My most recently published paper had a key wording change occur between when I submitted the draft, and when the paper was published.. had to have been AI. They did fix the issue, but wow…

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The public can send in comments here. Speak up if you value Earth science, public education, and science in the Midwestern heartland!

apc.unl.edu/fall-2025-bu...

Image collected by WATSON on the Perseverance rover of "Cheyava Falls," a rock on Mars containing potential biosignatures

I've been asked a few times over the last few days what I think the chances are that the "leopard spots and poppy seeds" on Mars will turn out to be actual evidence of life. People are naturally skeptical given the history of possible signs of life on other planets. Strap in: long thread ahead...

Why is V so concentrated in crude oil and oil shales?

Anoxic waters, H2S reduction, formation of porphyrin complexes, precipitation, clay adsorption, shale deposition, mineralization.

Tiny, V-rich #Mannardite punches above its weight.
#MinCup25
#Porphyrins

👇👇 🧪⚒️

Awesome!!

Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer

Shutting down the war on cancer.

“New presidential administrations have usually gone out of their way to make transitions at the NIH as seamless as possible so as not to disrupt ongoing research…”

Right. That’s not what is happening now. Must-read article.

🧪

Yep, agree. I think a take home for me with the article and other conversations, is if the projected growth does occur, then there’s a shortage.

Earth science departments are being gutted across the country, which is utterly bizarre given their relevance to our understanding of climate, hazards and disasters, the soils that feed us, the industries that drive our economies, and the importance of ancient life to understanding biodiversity.

Geothermal Energy Is Heating Up. It’s Going to Need More Geologists. The only renewable-energy source buoyed by the Trump administration is in short supply of scientific experts as the industry expands.

And mining.. if we want more domestic sources of critical minerals, we need Geoscientists.. and Geothermal, which also is suffering from a short supply of geologists - www.wsj.com/articles/geo...