Nasa is finally thinking about getting its Curiosity rover on the road and heading towards the big mountain at its exploration site in Mars' Gale Crater.

The robot has spent the past six months in a small depression, drilling its rocks and analysing their composition.

But even as the labs do their analysis, Curiosity has started moving towards a rock feature it saw briefly on the way into Yellowknife Bay.

Known as Point Lake, this outcrop has an unusual holey appearance - like Swiss cheese. Scientists are unsure as to whether it is volcanic or sedimentary in character.

"One idea is that it could be a lava flow and those are gas vesicles, and you often see in volcanic rocks on Earth that those kinds of holes are sometimes filled in by secondary minerals. That's one possibility," said Dr Joy Crisp, the deputy project scientist for Curiosity.

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Joy Also Explained The Presence Of The "Mars Rat"

Dr. Joseph Colgan '98, a research geologist with the USGS, was named one of President Obama's recipients for the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, including a reception at the White House. This is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. Joe was recognized for his work in the Basin and Range.

Congratulations Joe!

Read the USGS press release here:

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3293#.UKNPCoXOdCZ

Adam Maloof '98 discusses the shifting of Earth's continental mass and true polar wander.

Listen the Science Friday segment here:

http://sciencefriday.com/segment/11/09/2012/scientists-solve-mystery-of-earth-s-shifting-poles.html

John Goodge '80 teams up with petridish.org and You to raise funding for science projects. Follow the link below to John's petridish.org page, read about his ongoing research and how you can help.

http://www.petridish.org/projects/redrawing-an-ancient-supercontinent

Ross Mitchell '07 was featured on Science Friday to discuss a paper recently published in Nature. Follow the links below to read the paper, and listen to Science Friday with Ross.

Supercontinent cycles and the calculation of absolute palaeolongitude in deep time

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v482/n7384/full/nature10800.html

The Radio Show

http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201202103 

The IAG presented its sixth Early Career Researcher Award at the Goldschmidt Conference in Prague (August 2011). Now a well-established annual event, this award is based on the abstracts submitted for presentation at either poster or oral sessions; this year the IAG’s jury had a record 1150 contributions to consider.

Scott Linneman, '83 Carleton College Geology graduate who has taught at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA has been named the state’s Higher Education Science Teacher of the Year by the Washington Science Teachers Association.

Jeff Pipes '83 & Carls Helping Carls

Opportunity Uncorked: A Mentor Externship in Wine Country!

California winemaker Jeff Pipes '83 admits that he wasn’t sold on Carleton’s Mentor Externship program at first. Having a student work with him and live with his family sounded like a big commitment.

"Wine is an intense and competitive industry," explains Pipes, who owns Pipestone Vineyards with his wife, Florence Wong '84. "I’m incredibly busy. Having an extra person around to teach and train takes time."

But once he began reading applications from eager Carleton students, Pipes couldn't help but be impressed. "There were 30 applications, and I could have happily hired every one of them. They were all great. The hardest part was narrowing it down to just one."

That "one" turned out to be Amelia Harris '12, an Environmental Studies major with a special emphasis on food and agriculture—a perfect fit for Pipestone Vineyards, where Pipes and Wong strive to practice sustainable agriculture and environmentally friendly farming.

Now available in paperback!

Laurence McKinley Gould

To recognize exceptional work, the Geological Society of America awarded Benjamin Parks ’11, 1^st place for his outstanding poster presentation. A panel of judges was very impressed with the scientific aspects of his work, as well as the polished poster presentation that he gave. Congratulations Ben!