My latest for @quantamagazine.bsky.social, a Q&A with @karenlloyd.bsky.social on the hidden worlds living within Earth's crust. Favorite new word: aeonophiles, in reference to microbes that may live for 100,000s or even **millions** of years, just riding out the waves of geologic events 🤯.

📣 Our book of the month for August is... STRATA: STORIES FROM DEEP TIME by @laurapoppick.bsky.social We loved this detailed, deliberate overview of geoscience—and its mixture of lyrical prose and detailed profiles of researchers and the things they study. newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/announcing...

Honored that @pointreyesbooks.bsky.social selected Strata for their summer subscription! And also love that they have a subscription service, what a great idea. 🤩 Thanks Point Reyes Books and all of the other small independent bookstores helping to get this thing in the hands of readers 🙏.

In 2024, researchers reported a startling finding: deep-sea rock formations—known as polymetallic nodules—may be producing oxygen in total darkness. The phenomenon, dubbed “dark oxygen,” challenged assumptions about life-supporting chemistry in the deep ocean. Watch the full video: bit.ly/4foQbHp

Thanks @literaryhub.bsky.social for listing Strata's cover as one of the best of July! So grateful to Steve Attardo and the whole team at @wwnorton.com for designing this beauty that captures the essence of the book while also offering a real feast for the eyes. lithub.com/the-11-best-...

Thanks for the shout-out @literaryhub.bsky.social! And such company to be in, my summer reading list is piling up too quickly. manage.kmail-lists.com/subscription...

"Earth itself shaped humankind as we have shaped the planet in return - a relationship that requires repair but that could be rehabilitated with a little more recognition of where we came from." Thank you, @restingdinoface.bsky.social, for this beautiful review of Strata in @science.org today.

Delighted to have this excerpt from Strata out in @literaryhub.bsky.social this week 🧊 🎉

"...it would not only erase all current limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, factories, power plants and other sources. It would prevent future administrations from trying to tackle climate change, with lasting implications." www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/c...

Thanks so much @mounty.bsky.social! I've been encouraging my Maine friends to find a beach to read it on, or some other sedimentary environment :).

Oh my goodness @bengoldfarb.bsky.social 😍. Youngest and sweetest reader yet! Love that the cover matches her binky.

NYC, see you Monday? Grab yours tickets to my convo with the brilliant @slaskow.bsky.social at Books Are Magic ✨ 📚 A ticket gets you either a book, or a gift certificate to the store!

In addition to an excerpt I have out in @nautil.us this week (nautil.us/the-stories-...) ...I also had a lot of fun writing this 3 Greatest Revelations piece about what surprised me as I researched the book: nautil.us/when-earth-h...

Delighted to have an excerpt from STRATA out in @nautil.us this week! 🪨🌏💫 nautil.us/the-stories-...

Thanks so much @katieholten.bsky.social!

cambridge/somerville/environs - hop over to @harvardbookstore.bsky.social tonight where we'll be traveling very deep into the past with @laurapoppick.bsky.social and her new book, STRATA: STORIES FROM DEEP TIME! www.harvard.com/event/laura-...

Thank you @1juliarosen.bsky.social! Looking forward to holding your book in the not-too-distant future as well 📚🙏.

Buy Laura's book! I feel privileged to have art alongside her gorgeous prose. Also, that cover! Amazing work, whoever designed it (and listened to Laura's excellent insights and taste regarding the arresting beauty of vintage geologic diagrams.)

Come on out NYC! We'll talk deep time and, indeed, MUD.

Thanks @mainepublic.org for having me as a panelist on Maine Calling this morning! Listen to the episode on deep time + rocks of Maine here: www.mainepublic.org/show/maine-c...

looking forward to reading this one

STRATA is officially out in the world today! Very grateful to @wwnorton.com for publishing this book, and to @sarahmgilman.bsky.social for gracing the pages with her beautiful illustrations. So looking forward to sharing this with readers! Find upcoming events here: laurapoppick.com

come see Laura teach me about my new favorite thing, ROCKS!!!!!

Calling all Boston/Cambridge folks! I'll be in conversation with the smart + funny @cjgiaimo.bsky.social this Thursday at Harvard Book Store to celebrate the launch of STRATA. Please come on out! More info: www.harvard.com/event/laura-...

Very much looking forward to being in conversation with the brilliant @slaskow.bsky.social at Books are Magic in Brooklyn a week from today! 🌏🪨🎉 Come on out and join our conversation about deep time + ancient stories in rock. More info + tickets here: www.eventbrite.com/e/in-store-l...

STRATA launches *tomorrow* -- pls come on out and celebrate! -7/16 - Bunker Brewing w/ PRINT - Portland, ME printbookstore.com/event/laurap... -7/17 - Harvard Book Store - Cambridge, MA www.harvard.com/event/laura-... -7/21 - Books are Magic - Brooklyn, NY www.eventbrite.com/e/in-store-l...

Climate science helps us understand how Earth works. For example, we now know that the warming Gulf of Maine naturally buffers itself: @eos.org eos.org/articles/war... I often wonder if understanding how Earth works can lead to more awe + care and, in turn, more action. I think/hope so.

"When I asked her about the 1.5-degree target, she told me, 'Some people feel like, if you exceed it, it’s all over, and you can just give up...Why are we giving up on the future of life on Earth so fucking easily?'" 👏 Let's all listen to @ayanaeliza.bsky.social 🙏 www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

"Numbers released in May by the National Science Foundation (NSF) indicate that...the number of early-career researchers it supports could fall by 78%...'It’s a nightmare,' Simon says. 'I really fear for the future of science.'" @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

'Simple physics’: How climate change is making natural disasters deadlier | My interview yesterday on @msnbc.com #ChrisJansingReports: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH8_...

Looking for hopeful news in dark times? Read this excerpt from @billmckibben.bsky.social's powerful new book:

I was lucky enough to work w/ the ridiculously talented @sarahmgilman.bsky.social on illustrations for STRATA. They are available on Etsy, along with many other gems! Check them out: www.etsy.com/shop/HiddenD... And preorder STRATA to see these beauties on the page: bookshop.org/p/books/stra...

I adore working with @sarahmgilman.bsky.social . Sometimes I edit her writing and sometimes she edits mine, but the end result is always 🔥 Our latest collab is this quiet, beautiful story about making space for a bird that many people love to hate

@barnesandnoble.com is having a sale on all preorders through the end of the day tomorrow! Get 25% off a copy of STRATA using code PREORDER25 at checkout through July 11 (you have to be a rewards or premium member for the discount to apply): www.barnesandnoble.com/w/strata-lau...

My latest post, on how "deep time" came to be: laurapoppick.substack.com/p/on-the-ori...

Earth is trapping much more heat than climate models forecast – and the rate has doubled in 20 years theconversation.com/earth-is-tra...

”It’s omnivorous and adventurous, a diarist and archivist... Garnet keeps this ancient planet churning." I'll read anything by Marcia Bjornerud. Loved this piece on "the true fruits of the underworld" in @noemamag.com: www.noemamag.com/fire-eyes-of...

I have a new essay in @atmosmag.bsky.social about ants, trees, our living planet, Gaia theory, the misunderstood history of the 'superorganism' concept, and what it means to be alive at wildly different scales atmos.earth/gaia-complex...

I would love to see you as I launch Strata this summer! Please mark your calendars if you live in any of these places, and please spread the word. I'm so looking forward to being in conversation with these wonderful humans. Some of the events require tickets, find details here: laurapoppick.com

Very honored to see Strata listed as a Top 10 beach read by the @latimes.com! In the company of these other talented writers 😍. I suppose it does feel fitting for a book about ancient sediments to be read on a beach. #deeptimesummer www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

Thrilled to have an excerpt from STRATA in Rolling Stone today! Fulfilling my dreams of casting geologists as the rockstars of the scientific world: www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult... Two more weeks til we launch the book! Preorder here: wwnorton.com/books/978132...

As you can imagine, we at SciAm are extremely excited about the upcoming Vera Rubin Telescope. What's it going to do? "something revolutionary, rare and relatively old-fashioned: it will just look out at the universe and see what there is to see." (by @rboyle31.bsky.social) 🧪

Such a treat to get to share the final copy with @bengoldfarb.bsky.social and the other kind and generous folks who provided blurbs for Strata. One month(ish) til launch!🙏 🪨 🌏

Received quite the delivery this week 🥹. First time holding the hardcover. Just under six more weeks til she's out in the world! Pre-order here! wwnorton.com/books/978132...

Look at these beauties that @sarahmgilman.bsky.social drew for Strata 😍. I am beyond delighted to be able to include these drawings in the book, and encourage you to head on over to Sarah's shop to see what other outrageously beautiful pieces she has for sale.

With two months to go until the launch of my book, Strata: Stories from Deep Time, I'm reflecting on the six year journey from inception to completion, and the serendipities along the way that I'm only just registering now: laurapoppick.substack.com/p/the-cyclic...

I will forever be haunted by this footage. Trawling has only been filmed underwater a few times in documentary history, and never with such clarity. What’s so heart-rending about these shots is watching how the animals don’t just get swept up — they swim for their lives. 🌎🦑🧪

In honor of earth day, please share your favorite nature writing! Here’s mine Books -world of wonders -pilgrim at tinker creek -arctic dreams Poems - invitation (mary Oliver) - startlement and instructions on not giving up (Ada Limón)

I'm so looking forward to this! I'll be moderating a discussion with authors Brandon Keim and Cara Giaimo, and then we'll clear the stage for a performance from Cara's band, sidebody. If you're in the Portland, ME area and looking for a way to celebrate Earth Day this evening, come on out!