Rock Doc column

Rock Doc: Climate change and population collapse

By E. Kirsten Peters, College of Agricultural, Human & Natural Resource Sciences PULLMAN, Wash. – Climate is always changing. That’s one truth that stands out from the record around the world of natural samples of Earth materials, tree rings, ice layers and so much more. But how much has past climate change influenced human affairs?

Rock Doc: Seas on Titan and your heating bill

By E. Kirsten Peters, College of Agricultural, Human & Natural Resource Sciences PULLMAN, Wash. – Like most regions of the country, the area where I live suffered through colder than average temperatures in mid-November. If you pay your heating bill month by month, you are now facing the sticker shock that results from those bitter […]

Rock Doc: Keeping warm with gold fever

By E. Kirsten Peters, College of Agricultural, Human & Natural Resource Sciences PULLMAN, Wash. – I own a couple of small gold nuggets. They came from the Round Mountain gold mine in Nevada, which I visited a few years ago. A tour of the open-pit mine was crowned by a visit to the foundry where […]

Rock Doc column: Wake up and smell the genes

By E. Kirsten Peters, College of Agricultural, Human & Natural Resource Sciences PULLMAN, Wash. – Like millions of Americans, my day starts by plugging in the coffeepot. In my case, it’s an old fashioned percolator. It clears its throat and brews my coffee while I rub sleep out of my eyes and brush my teeth.

Rock Doc: Kennewick Man’s bones tell quite a story

By E. Kirsten Peters, College of Agricultural, Human & Natural Resource Sciences PULLMAN, Wash. – His teeth had no cavities but were heavily worn. He was about my height – some 5 feet, 7 inches tall. He wasn’t petite, likely weighing around 160 pounds. Well before his death, he broke six of his ribs. Five […]