Layered Rocks

Self-Similar Voiding Solutions of a Single Layered Model of Folding Rocks

In this paper we derive an obstacle problem with a free boundary to describe the formation of voids at areas of intense geological folding. An elastic layer is forced by overburden pressure against a V-shaped rigid obstacle. Energy minimization leads to representation as a nonlinear fourth-order ordinary differential equation, for which we prove there exists a unique solution. Drawing parallels...

Ribosome Rocks

If we are to talk about molecules of life, the ribosome, made of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and protein, is a key: it stands at the junction between information and action, i.e. between nucleic acids and proteins. It is an extraordinarily sophisticated machine that takes the information present in mRNA and uses it to build proteins, containing over 250K atoms, and measuring more than 200 in every dir...

Lunar Rocks

The Moon, like the Earth, is made of rocks. To learn about the Moon and its history, one has to learn something about lunar rocks—what they are made of, how they are studied and classified, and how our experiences in interpreting rocks on the Earth have been applied to rocks on the Moon. The lunar samples have provided our only direct information about the Moon’s minerals, chemical composition,...

Submarine volcaniclastic rocks

Utopia on the Rocks

Analysing American society and finding little hope for it has almost become a 'favourite sport' for sociologists. Another book on this theme illustrates the strongly-felt and yet somehow 'manufactured' crisis of conscience in the USA.