Hello everyone, As many of the followers of ColbyDigsSoil.com know, I’ve been working on my PhD in soil science at NC State for a while now. I’ll be finishing up in December, so I’ve been in the midst a thorough job search over the summer and the beginning of the fall semester. That job search isContinue reading “New Job!”
Author Archives: Colby
Citizen (Soil) Science: Predicting 17 Yr Cicada Arrival
The 17 year cicada (genus Magicicada) will emerge on the American east coast again this year in just a few days. As nymphs (grubs) they feed on the xylem fluid of deciduous tree roots. The xylem in plants is basically the tubes through which water and nutrients flow as it moves from the roots to theContinue reading “Citizen (Soil) Science: Predicting 17 Yr Cicada Arrival”
SWCS: Time Well Spent
Tonight the Soil and Water Conservation Society at NCSU (the NCSU student chapter of the SWCS) held our 2013 officer elections. For the first time since 2006 (seven years) I am not an officer or board member of the SWCS, or any affiliated chapters, whatsoever. I’ve really enjoyed my time as a leader in this society, but it’sContinue reading “SWCS: Time Well Spent”
Test Time!
Hey everyone. I am in the middle of taking my PhD preliminary exams so I won’t be able to write a blog post until the end of January. I plans for my next couple of posts include a post on the Aridisol soil order (desert soils), the water cycle within soils and plants (how transpirationContinue reading “Test Time!”
Nature Geosciences: Rare Earth Scientists
I came across an interesting article recently in Nature Geoscience called “Rare Earth Scientists” that discussed how there is a large demand for scientists in the earth science fields, yet the availability of scientists is falling short. Here are some interesting parts of the article: As a result of these emerging job opportunities for geoscientists,Continue reading “Nature Geosciences: Rare Earth Scientists”
Happy World Soil Day!
Webster Soil Series. Photo courtesy of the Iowa State University Extension and OutreachHappy World Soil Day everyone! I’ll be honest, I kind of forgot about it until I opened up Twitter this afternoon and saw all of my fellow soil scientist’s happy tweets about it. However, I celebrated by looking up the soil classification ofContinue reading “Happy World Soil Day!”
Soil Science In The News: “The Dust Bowl” by Ken Burns
PBS is currently broadcasting “The Dust Bowl” documentary film series by Ken Burns. It’s a series of movies about one of the most tragic environmental disasters to ever face the United States. The description of the films on PBS’s website reads: THE DUST BOWL chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, in which the frenzied wheatContinue reading “Soil Science In The News: “The Dust Bowl” by Ken Burns”
Root Humor
I appologize for the lack of posts recently. The fall semester is wrapping up, and one phase of a large field project is ramping up. This means I have no time at all. To make up for the lack of posts, here’s an awesome picture I saw on Facebook from I F*****g Love Science! As aContinue reading “Root Humor”
Unlocking Ancient Maya Secrets With Modern Soil Science
When I see an interesting story involving soil science in the news, I like to post them here for my reading audience. One story I’ve seen in a variety of places is about a research article posted in the Soil Science Society of American Journal entitled Upland and Lowland Soil Resources of the Ancient Maya atContinue reading “Unlocking Ancient Maya Secrets With Modern Soil Science”
The Soil Orders – Spodosols
This is the third of a series of blog posts where I will describe some of the interesting features of each of the 12 soil orders in Soil Taxonomy – the soil classification system developed for the US by the United States Department of Agriculture. Each order will be “profiled” (forgive the bad soils pun)Continue reading “The Soil Orders – Spodosols”
Colby Digs Soil 