iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 19h

Because some (many) of us gambled 😉

A blue football shirt with the name João Pedro and the number 12

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

All boxes ticked. She can start tomorrow.

A black spingador dog sitting in a field and looking to the right.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The myth of Thatcher nursing the "sick man of Europe" back to fiscal health is an illusion based on North Sea tax receipts. Austerity coincided with the loss of that income.

Plot of UK tax receipts from oil and gas production 1970 to 2020.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I mean ... that's pretty much what it looks like!

Google Earth image of Nebraska Sandhills

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Repost with an image of your favourite James Bond (wrong answers only)

Rab C. Nesbit - a dishevelled, unshaven, white man wearing a torn black jacket over a string vest with a dirty headband in greasy hair, pointing at the observer.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Better still - use the fact that it gives them access to the Hugoton gas field, one of the world's major helium sources, thus allowing them to keep their party balloons aloft.

Map of western Oklahoma showing the states surrounding the panhandle, plus the extent of the Hugoton Gas Field.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Lucky enough earlier this week to get excellent view of the 2023-25 lava flows around the town of Grindavík (middle on coast), Blue Lagoon Resort and neighbouring geothermal plant (inland, middle-left) on the Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland. 🌋⚒️🧪

View of Reykjanes Peninsula from aircraft showing the town of Grindavík surrounded by tongues of black lava flows

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Herd of cows. On a beach. In Fife, Scotland. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🐄

Cows sitting or standing on a wide, sandy beach under a blue sky.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Charlie says bring back those public information films ...

A cartoon picture of a brown-haired boy wearing a checked coat and blue trousers and a large orange and brow cat (Charlie) holding a fish skeleton

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Not the same German scientist, but true.

Venn diagram with two overlapping circles. Left one (coloured purple) says "plant". Right one (coloured green) labelled "mineral". The area of overlap labelled "named after German scientists called Fuchs".

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Did a meteorology class as undergrad and most of the photos of lightning strikes were from golf courses, like shown here. Small clusters of trees, along with pins, clubs, and big umbrellas make these awful places to endure a thunderstorm. 🧪🌩️

Putting green from a golf course. Dendritic burn marks radiate across the grass from a lightning strike that hit the flag in the hole.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

This bad boy hasn’t seen active service in a long time!

Hole punch sitting on an open ring binder containing papers.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Slide from my mineralogy lectures to @durhamearthsci.bsky.social undergraduates (using HSE data). The industrial legacy of asbestos in NE England's heavy industry (especially the building and breaking of ships with asbestos heat cladding) is clear in the much higher rates compared to rest of UK. 🧪⚒️

Time series of UK deaths from mesothelioma from 1981 to 2022 broken down into regions. All regions show similar increase to peak around 2011 before slowly starting to decrease. Most regions have similar levels but NE England significantly above all others.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Slide from one of my Level 2 igneous petrology lectures.

A picture titled "Bowen Bother" with a picture of Norman Bowen and a page from his book "The Evolution of the Igneous Rocks" presenting his "reaction series". The text below is highlighted:
The matter is really too complex to be presented in such simple form. Nevertheless the simplicity, while somewhat misleading, may prove of service in presenting the subject in concrete form."

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Congratulations to all @durhamearthsci.bsky.social students who graduated from @durham.ac.uk today at @durhamcathedral.bsky.social, and to one luck soul who received their dogree. ⚒️🧪👨‍🎓👩‍🎓🐕

Queue of people wearing colourful graduates robes in the stone carved corridor of Durham University cloisters

Durham University graduates and families in front of Durham Cathedral

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

In The Philippines they do this to motorbikes and call it skylab

Motorbike with planks attached to sides for seating, and a roof.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Springer x Labrador is a Springador. They look like this (full range of lab colours available.) They are fabulous dogs. Her predecessor was a JR (see my profile pic). Am sure Jack Springador would be would be a great dog too.

A black dog sitting on frosty ground looking at the camera.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Don't worry. Those who can do both get jealous of Geddy Lee. 🤘

Geddy Lee: a white man with glasses and long hair facing the camera standing on a stage wearing a double neck 12-string-guitar/bass and standing in front of a bank of keyboards, foot pedals and microphones.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Please let it be Angine de Poitrine's tour bus 🖐️🔺🤚

Band Angine de Poitrine wearing a mixture of black on white and white on black polka dots.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Probably my favourite rock in @nhm-london.bsky.social. Pallasites are spectacular mixtures of olivine (stony) and alloy (metallic) meteorite components. When sectioned the olivine is translucent forming one of nature's most beautiful rocks. ⚒️🧪 Image from Sotheby's.

Slab of the Imilac Pallasite meteorite. Large golden-yellow olivine crystals in a matrix of pale grey matrix.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

My dog sees you lunching at your keyboard and can’t help thinking it would be nice if you shared with her.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Margins currently in retreat may have experienced hinge advance in the past (or faster retreat). The contrasts between Izu-Bonin and Mariana during the present day and 25-5Ma is striking. Not all subduction zones are alike, and few retain constant behaviour through time. 3/4

Schematic world view centred on Southeast Asia showing hinge advance or hinge retreat migration amounts of convergent plate boundaries from twenty-five until five million years ago.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

The majority of plate boundaries have experienced hinge retreat over the past 5 millions years. But some of these may still be suffering sab rollback depending on the absolute motion of the overriding plate. 2/4

Schematic world view centred on Southeast Asia showing hinge advance or hinge retreat migration amounts of convergent plate boundaries over the past five millions years.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

(Very) Schematic illustration of subduction zone evolution that Robert Hall and I produced some moons ago. We used Robert's plate reconstructions to try and map plate margin migrations. Links to papers further down thread. ⚒️🧪🌋 🧵1/4

A schematic illustration of hinge retreat showing slab and trench locations before and after a finite period of subduction. The surface expression of both have mover with respect to the fixed hinterland of the overriding plate (as represented by the left hand side of the figure).

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

We did. 💚🤝💜 keeping the Weedjieland cabinet bare

Hibernian women’s 2024/25 SWPL champions squad montage

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Top team in Scotland. Second team in Edinburgh 😉 👏👏👏

15:04BST BREAKING
FULL-TIME Hibernian 2-0 Hearts
HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN ARE SWPL CHAMPIONS!
Despite a final-day defeat to Hibs Eva Olid’s side are officially title winners.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Olivine- and plagioclase-phyric, vesicular basaltic glass in cross polarised light from Hawaii for #ThinSectionThursday. Olivine shows wide range of interference colours despite uniform composition. Much of the glassy groundmass is devitrified in rosettes around the phenocrysts. 🧪⚒️🌋

Cross polarise light view of Hawaiian porphyritic basalt. Multicoloured, euhedral olivine phenocrysts, and elongated, euhedral, black and white plagioclase lathes surrounded by vesicular glass. Much of the glass is devitrified in rosettes around the phenocrysts. A particularly large vesicle is conspicuous towards the top of the field of view.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

I consider it a particular win to get positive comments about assessments (Summative 1 / star wars summative) in end-of-module evaluations from our @durhamearthsci.bsky.social students. 🌋🧪🚀

Excerpt of responses from student evaluation questionnaire, reading:
Lecturers were helpful in answering questions during practicals.
Concepts felt like they fully came round by the end of the course.
Mathematical summative (Summative 1) was amazing
The star wars summative was very interesting
liked the metamorphic teaching. found the igneous lectures sometimes

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

An (ALT-texted) image speaks a thousand words so here is a list of all the critical minerals.

A picture of planet Earth viewed looking down onto the northern hemisphere.

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