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Author: Dr C M Helm-Clark PhD

Doc Clark was given a box of rocks when she was four and it all went downhill from there. Having made the mistake of going to engineering school, she took a geology class, realized she was on the wrong path through life and jumped ship for a degree in rocks. She's done lots of things over a lifetime, including mapping geothermal resources and Yellowstone-related volcanism, investigating the oil deposit under the Great Salt Lake and managing the field work of a Superfund site.
Corpse Gas Part I: Cadaver Dogs and Other Human Remains Detection Methods

Corpse Gas Part I: Cadaver Dogs and Other Human Remains Detection Methods

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Beginning in 2010, I had the opportunity to help in the search for Susan Powell, a mother of two toddlers from West Valley City, Utah. Susan is a missing person. She was last seen on the evening of December 7, 2009. Her husband, the now-deceased Josh Powell, remains the sole “person of interest” in her disappearance. The details of her case made headlines internationally so I won’t repeat them here. There are three good “true crimes” books out on the…

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One of the 1919 total eclipse photographic plates from Dyson, Eddington and Davidson, 1920
Einstein’s Eclipse

Einstein’s Eclipse

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The photo above is a positive image of one of the photographic plates taken in Sobral, Brazil, during the 1919 total eclipse of the sun. The data from this and other images taken at the time were used by Dyson, Eddington and Davidson (1920) in the first independent confirmation of the gravitational deflection of light as predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity. CONFIRMING EINSTEIN’S GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY In 1915, Einstein published his theory of general relativity. In 1916,…

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The Mysterious Case of the Missing Volcanic Bombs

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Volcanic Bombs

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Ever watch those nature shows of volcanoes erupting where gobs of red molten lava are thrown high into the air? All that airborne lava has to come back down. When those gobs and splatters of lava fall back to earth, they tend to look like somewhat flattened blobs of bread dough. Geologists call them volcanic bombs. Today’s installment of gnarly science is about a volcanic eruption where the expected volcanic bombs went missing. Before we go looking for the missing…

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space photo 2003 Great Salt Lake
The Lovely Rosy Waters of the Great Salt Lake

The Lovely Rosy Waters of the Great Salt Lake

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THE GREAT SALT LAKE The Great Salt Lake is so salty that no fish can live in it. Regardless, it supports its own unique fishery based on Artemia salina, the brine shrimp. Only organisms adapted to extreme salinity can survive. The microscopic ones give the northern half of the lake its rosy color. The conditions that support these rosy-color organisms are: an accident of geography ( interior drainage). a railroad causeway An accident of geography The Great Salt Lake is…

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mercury danger sign
Methylmercury Poisoning

Methylmercury Poisoning

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When people worry about mercury in fish, it’s organic methylated mercury they’re worrying about. METHYLMERCURY SOURCES While there are a multitude of mercury chemicals, the ones that concern human life are methylated compounds of mercury. One major source of methylmercury is industry. The chlorine-chemical plants and pulp-paper mills have historically discharged fluids contaminated with methylmercury into rivers, lakes and oceans as part of their waste stream. This practice is now illegal in many places, like the United States and Sweden,…

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1920s postcard of Crested Pool
Death by Hot Spring

Death by Hot Spring

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The world is full of hot spring enthusiasts who trek from hot spring to hot spring in order to soak their cares away and commune with other of their ilk. In fact, there is a whole subculture out there for “hot potting,” the practice of finding and visiting natural hot springs untouched by any development. What many hot potters do not realize is that hot springs can kill you or cause you lasting harm. Hot Spring Facts The US National…

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