![]() ![]() Rock enthusiasts and novices alike are sure to enjoy the light tone and easy-to-follow material and pace. Overall, “Life’s Rocky Start” is both entertaining and educational, a balance that is a challenge for documentaries to achieve. And “Green Earth” is the vegetated planet we live on today. “White Earth” refers to the time when continents broke apart and more advanced organisms, such as trilobites, evolved. “Red Earth” came about as early oxygen-producing, ocean-dwelling microbes oxidized large amounts of iron in seawater, which then precipitated into massive rust-colored iron deposits on the seafloor. “Blue Earth” represents the appearance of water at the surface. “Gray Earth” occurred when granite first formed and continents began to appear. “Black Earth” defines the earliest time on our planet, when it was initially molten and then cooled and was covered in black basalt. Hazen sets the discussion of geology’s impacts on early biology in the context of a color-coded scheme of six stages of Earth’s history. Mixed in with footage from field excursions and dialog among Hazen and fellow geoscientists also on the hunt for such clues, he describes the global picture of how the geological and environmental backdrop on Earth changed over time. What roles did rocks and minerals play in the emergence and evolution of life on Earth? That’s the key question that mineralogist Robert Hazen of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., attempts to answer in “Life’s Rocky Start."ĭuring the show, Hazen travels the world, from the markets of Morocco to the Australian Outback, looking for meteorites, rocks and minerals that might hold clues to the planet’s earliest life forms. ![]() To find out about upcoming broadcasts or watch episodes online, visit. Naturally, much “NOVA” programming touches on topics in geoscience, so we decided to review several recent hour-long episodes that might be of particular interest to our readers. “NOVA,” the weekly prime-time science series that airs on PBS, is known for producing high-quality TV documentaries on subjects ranging from espionage and the military to ancient civilizations and nature. Credit: left: CC0 public domain middle: Jessica Lea/UK Department for International Development, CC BY 2.0 right: Ann Tihansky/U.S. Concise and wide-ranging, this is an essential work of reference for students and professionals, and anyone with an interest in the environment and conservation.Three recent earth science-themed NOVA episodes have examined the possible roles of rocks and minerals in the emergence of life on early Earth, the April 2015 earthquake that struck Nepal, and the persistent hazard of sinkholes in some parts of the world. ![]() The dictionary’s uniquely comprehensive approach places the subject of the environment firmly in a human as well as a scientific context. It also features over 30 highlighted entries on key topics, such as Air pollution, Chernobyl, El Niño, the Gaia hypothesis, and Ozone depletion, and 10 appendices covering a range of related subjects including international environmental treaties, the Beaufort scale, the Richter scale, the geologic timescale, and web links. International in scope, it embraces a broad spectrum of environmental areas including sustainable development biodiversity conservation environmental ethics, philosophy, and history resource management sociology and policy on the environment. Social as well as scientific in focus, it provides comprehensive coverage of the social aspect of environmental science (including treaties, organisations, and agencies relating to the environment) and ecology, as well as biographies of key figures in the field. This informative dictionary contains over 8,500 entries on all aspects of environmental science and conservation. choices are sound and definitions are solid and unspun. ![]()
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