Planetary Design: A Brief Introduction

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In my last post I tried to explain why I study rocks. In my next few posts I will describe my research focus and exactly what I am doing for my PhD thesis. However, in order to better explain this … Continue reading →

One and a half minutes of fame!

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We’re going to be on TV!!! Following the recent announcement about mining asteroids, the BBC’s Newsround visited our labs this morning. They asked us what is it that’s in asteroids that makes them so valuable and whether this project is … Continue reading →

A look into the IDLE laboratory

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Our IDLE (Interstellar Dust Laser Explorer) laboratory is home to two time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometers (TOFSIMS) which we have built ourselves. Building the instruments ourselves not only saved money but also made it possible to customize the instruments for … Continue reading →

Women in Planetary Science Symposium

Yesterday evening a couple of hundred women and a handful of men gathered for the 4th Annual Women in Planetary Science Symposium at the 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. These symposia were started by Susan Nieber, who set up … Continue reading →

LPSC 2012

Well we made it!!! After hours of delayed flights, missed connections, fully booked alternatives, planes turned back due to faulty toilets, no sleep and extremely bad treatment at the hands of US Airways we got to Houston! 5 of us … Continue reading →

NASA’s Genesis Mission

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A few weeks ago I wrote a piece on this blog asking the question what is our solar system made of? I explained our need to know the composition of the starting material from which our solar system formed. The … Continue reading →

When art meets science…

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Hi, I’m Ashley, a researcher studying extra-terrestrial samples in the Cosmochemistry and Isotope Geochemistry group. Recently, along with my scientific research I’ve also been in contact with David Gelsthorpe, the curator of Earth Sciences at the Manchester Museum, to see … Continue reading →

Why rocks?

Before I get into telling you about my PhD research I thought I would answer this question, most recently posed to me by a French businessman; and it got me thinking…seriously, why rocks? Following some thought, my answer was power … Continue reading →

Happy Birthday to us!

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Happy 1st birthday Earth and Solar System! It is exactly one year since we first posted on this blog! In that time we’ve published over 40 articles and had almost 10,000 visitors! Thank you to all our followers on Facebook … Continue reading →

Successful Cruise UKGEOTRACES 40ºS

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      Latest news on the successful completion of GA10 UKGEOTRACES 40ºS Just back from the south Atlantic and a successful research expedition. For the offical update click the link above.