Voice of the Mid-Columbia | Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Wash. |

E. Kirsten Peters is a native of the rural Northwest, but she was trained as a geologist at Princeton and Harvard. Questions about science or energy for future Rock Docs can be sent to epeters@wsu.edu. This column is a service of the College of Sciences at Washington State University.


Rock Doc
Published Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009

PULLMAN — The other day, the forecast near my home included winds up to 50 mph.

Published Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

PULLMAN — My 84-year old mother bent over the cookbook one day recently and read aloud to me as I wolfed down a chicken sandwich I’d made at lunchtime.

Published Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

PULLMAN — Dogs pant with their tongues hanging out, young men sweat by the bucket, and aging geologists just fall over on our faces in the shade on a hot summer’s day.

Published Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009

PULLMAN — Nothing is sweeter than a powerfully sunny Saturday in autumn.

Published Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009

PULLMAN -- I don’t think about the world from the point of view of plants very often.

Published Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009

PULLMAN — This year is the 400th birthday of science and engineering.

Published Wednesday, Oct. 07, 2009

PULLMAN — I was surprised by how terribly hot the engine smelled.

Published Wednesday, Sep. 23, 2009

PULLMAN — Twice a week I slog through some reps at the gym to keep my core muscles and arms strong enough so I can do basic outdoor tasks.

Published Wednesday, Sep. 16, 2009

PULLMAN — I’m old enough to remember early reruns of the very first Star Trek programs.

Published Wednesday, Sep. 09, 2009

PULLMAN — At sunset on Sept. 22, I’ll be in my backyard with a couple of stakes and twine, and I invite you to do something similar.

Published Wednesday, Sep. 02, 2009

PULLMAN — One December’s afternoon a few years ago, I crawled through a barbed wire fence buried in the snow.

Published Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009

PULLMAN — About a decade ago I was cruising up a 130-mile long reservoir behind America’s largest dam — Grand Coulee — built across the mighty Columbia River.

Published Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009

PULLMAN — Although Kevin R. Vixie is a mathematician who works just two doors down the hallway from me, his work is a world away from mine.

Published Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009

PULLMAN — My Labrador-mix from the dog-pound is quite a mutt, but even so he shows Lab enthusiasm for retrieving sticks I throw into the river. (Just for the record, he’s a specialist and won’t retrieve sticks thrown on land.)

Published Wednesday, Aug. 05, 2009

PULLMAN — My employment history includes three years working as a reporter for a daily newspaper.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2009

PULLMAN — Those of us limping down the road in late-80s or early-90s cars, vans and pickups can be forgiven if we think the deal sounds too good to be true.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 22, 2009

PULLMAN — Last summer, it took well north of $100 to fill the tank of my beloved 1987 pickup. You may remember, too, having to adjust your household budget in light of sky-high gas prices.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 15, 2009

Editor's note: Five drug companies are furiously making H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine for American consumption this fall. Here's the story of the last killer flu year (1918) and how that may relate to H1N1. But, as the column makes clear, plain vanilla influenza (the kind we have each winter) killed oodles more Americans last winter than did H1N1 in the spring.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

PULLMAN -- I was throwing sticks for my dog into the Snake River on Sunday evening, watching a fully loaded ocean-going barge on the slack-water of the river.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 01, 2009

PULLMAN -- I hope you played with your food when you were young.

Published Wednesday, Jun. 24, 2009

PULLMAN -- More than a thousand years ago, my Norse ancestors were busy pillaging Europe.

Published Wednesday, Jun. 17, 2009

PULLMAN -- These are the longest days of the year, with the sun higher in the sky than at any other time.

Published Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2009

PULLMAN -- Science is full of unexpected discoveries, some coming at decidedly awkward times.

Published Wednesday, Jun. 03, 2009

PULLMAN -- When I came into the world in the 1960s, some visionaries still hoped that electricity would become “too cheap to meter.”

Published Wednesday, May. 27, 2009

PULLMAN -- Thomas Jefferson had so many serious interests and accomplishments, it’s difficult to name even half of them.

Published Wednesday, May. 20, 2009

PULLMAN — More than a couple of times in the long history of personally changing the oil in my 1987 pickup, I’ve misjudged how vigorously the dirty fluid will flow out of the oil pan.

Published Wednesday, May. 13, 2009

In recent years we’ve all seen many true advances in medical science, energy technologies and more — the kind of win-win work we need now more than ever to find new ways to build our future and propel us out of this global recession.

Published Wednesday, May. 06, 2009

One of the better phases of childhood, it has always seemed to me, is playing with codes and secret messages.

Published Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2009

We Scandinavians have several strange customs, including our hallmark fish dish, which is cod that’s been processed for days in caustic lye.

Published Wednesday, Apr. 22, 2009

It’s 18 miles from the front door of my house to the Snake River.

Published Wednesday, Apr. 15, 2009

Geologists often travel to remote locations.

Published Wednesday, Apr. 08, 2009

I like experiments that have dramatic results — preferably explosions or at least a good fire.

Published Wednesday, Apr. 01, 2009

Twenty nine years ago, on a beautiful spring Sunday after church, I watched the darkest clouds I had ever seen sweep toward my hometown in eastern Washington State.

Published Wednesday, Mar. 25, 2009

A younger friend of mine bought a house nearby that was built in the 1880s.

Published Wednesday, Mar. 18, 2009

Remember gasoline prices last Fourth of July?

Published Wednesday, Mar. 11, 2009

PULLMAN — I take a personal interest in pickup trucks that can shut down half their cylinders to get better gas mileage when conditions permit.

Published Wednesday, Mar. 04, 2009

Part of the federal stimulus package that you may not have heard much about contains good news for one of our deepest national strengths.

Published Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009

On a windless night recently I arose before the sun.

Published Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009

PULLMAN — Earlier this month, authorities in California warned residents that a 23-foot long python was on the loose.

Published Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009

PULLMAN -- On Saturdays, when the snow isn’t too deep in my backyard, I split a bit of wood for my woodstove.

Published Thursday, Feb. 05, 2009

You might think you don’t know much about the history of Earth’s climate. But dramatic climate change is reflected in your genes.

Published Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009

Crude oil is a mix of stinky chemicals. But smell as they may, the liquids in petroleum are vital to us.

Published Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009

PULLMAN -- The goal of growing more fuel to meet our energy needs looks increasingly realistic.

Published Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009

PULLMAN -- President-elect Obama’s pick for Secretary of Energy is a physicist with a Nobel Prize.

Published Wednesday, Jan. 07, 2009

PULLMAN -- The gene for death has been isolated -- and reversed -- by scientists. Not a bad day’s work, you might say, and a bright ray of light in this dark winter of gloomy news reports.

Published Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008

PULLMAN -- Budgeting for fuel costs was never more challenging than in 2008.

Published Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008

PULLMAN -- You can be forgiven if the price of gold escaped your notice in 2008.

Published Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008

We all make a thousand choices about the energy we use each day, and we pay for each decision we make.

Published Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008

As schoolchildren know, dinosaurs lived in a much warmer world. Back in the era of T Rex and Stegosaurus, dinos flourished all over the globe beside truly balmy seas.

Published Wednesday, Dec. 03, 2008

PULLMAN -- If you cut me off from food for three days, I’d be fine. My body would burn the natural insulation I carry, but not much would change except that I’d be a bit grumpier.


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