In 1993, I was just starting my career as a paleontologist, heading out to college, when the movie Jurassic Park opened in theatres. I had already made up my mind about a career in paleontology, well before the movie and book by Michael Crichton had come out. I read the book in college, not really…

I’m optimistic about this coming new decade and ecstatic for new beginnings. This year I am throwing myself fully into writing a very ambitious textbook entitled “The Essential Guide to Planet Earth,” which will be an Open Resource Textbook, offered as an online WikiBook, Kindle, and traditional hardback book for students interested in how the…

A recent article published in Nature Publishing’s Scientific Reports, caught my eye, as a news story was recently published detailing how this paper is controversial and has drawn strong criticism from the scientific community. I thought I would describe the paper, and why its strong criticism by fellow scientists is justified, but I also want…

Geology, my own field of inquiry is like all great science, based on simple curiosity. A drive or interest in figuring something out and running through a series of tests and experiments that will yield an answer to your question. Good science is driven by this quest, a never-ending interest in finding out the mysteries…

From a city skyscraper in downtown Salt Lake City, a small staff of workers has been orchestrating the dismantling of Utah’s 13 national monuments and parks. This urban setting, 400 miles from Bears Ears National Monument is the home to the Sutherland Institute. Their social media accounts (Twitter, Instagram and YouTube) stand out as the…

1) Try to trap every moment, before they all run off into the dark wilderness. 2) Be caged not by bars, but the pillar held up to prevent the collapse upon those you love. 3) When passion leaves your life, replaced it by the sweetness of your offspring. 4) Depression may stab at you with…

There is no deigning that the United States has a gun problem. High levels of gun deaths make our country a unique outliner among other developed countries, and undoubtedly the United States is seen as the most pro-gun culture in the world. After the tragic shooting in Los Vegas yesterday, there was a broad condemnation…

There has been a lot of discussion of balancing the federal budget, and the importance of funding for science and technology, but I don’t think many of us here in the United States understand how science is funded, and how much of that science funding comes from federal taxes. On April 22nd, scientists are planning…

I don’t post political commentary, and that is because I don’t want to deal with the political fall-out that comes from professing one’s allegiances to political parties, or even to positioning oneself along a political spectrum. I often struggle when people are criticized for holding opposing view-points. For example, supporting gun rights, while supporting same…

After all the turmoil of the Nov. 2016 election this year, I retreated away from Social Media for two weeks. It was to clear my own thoughts from the thousands of hordes of voices that were filling my stream with indignation, fear and worry. I retreat into the solace of my own head space, and…