We can’t hope to bring you every story, but there are plenty of caving and mining blogs out there you can browse at your leisure – so have a read through some of the best! If you know of a blog you’d like us to add to this page please let us know.
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Muon detector could help UK reduce carbon emissions
A specialist detector which is set to play a fundamental part in helping the UK reduce its carbon emissions is being developed. Muon detectors which exploit cosmic-ray muons, a natural radiation to see through kilometers of rock -- in a similar way to ...
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Hoosier cavefish: New species from caves of southern Indiana has an anus right behind its head
A new eyeless cavefish is described from Indiana and named after the Indiana Hoosiers. It is the first new cavefish species described from the US in 40 years. Notably, it has an anus right behind its head, and the females brood their young in their gil ...
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Ancient giant sperm from tiny shrimps discovered at Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Site
Preserved giant sperm from tiny shrimps that lived about 17 million years ago have been discovered in Queensland, Australia. They are the oldest fossilized sperm ever found in the geological record. The shrimps lived in a pool in an ancient cave inhabi ...
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Corn dwarfed by temperature dip suitable for growing in mines, caves
Lowering temperatures for two hours each day reduces the height of corn without affecting its seed yield, a study shows, a technique that could be used to grow crops in controlled-environment facilities in caves and former mines. Raising the crops in i ...
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Can you cut rope with a household jet washer?
After the last blog post where I tried to compare washing a caving rope in a washing machine to jet washing I thought I’d try to see how much damage I could do to a rope with a jet washer. … Continue reading → ...
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Thoughts on jet washing caving ropes
I thought I’d ponder a little bit about the ‘myth’ of jet washers and caving ropes. I say myth because it appears that there is no real test data out there in the caving community. Recent caving forum discussions about … Continue reading → ...
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“Did I Mention I’ve got lurgy?”
15/03/2014 - The Psychotronic Strangeways, Daren Cilau, with Tom and EmmaI'm lying on the sofa feeling quite broken typing this on Sunday evening. I guess that's what happens if you go caving in Daren Cilau when you aren't very well (actually I think t ...
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Lurking in the darkness of Chinese caves, five new species of armored spiders come to light
Armored spiders are medium to small species that derive their name from the complex pattern of the plates covering their abdomen strongly resembling body armor. Lurking in the darkness of caves In Southeast China, scientists discover and describe five ...
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Little Foot is oldest complete Australopithecus, new stratigraphic research shows
After 13 years of meticulous excavation of the nearly complete skeleton of the Australopithecus fossil named Little Foot, South African and French scientists have now convincingly shown that it is probably around 3 million years old. ...
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Another trip down Titan
It's good to do Titan now and then to remind myself of how scary big pitches are. This time I had also claimed that I might be able to find my way through to Peak Cavern. The others on the trip (Kathryn, Matt and Sophie) didn't know the route so the po ...
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Sidetrack Cave
Sidetrack Cave has an unusual access procedure which involves abseiling down the side of a quarry to get to the entrance. Kathryn and I decided that this was enough of a novelty to warrant a trip in itself.After half an hour of wandering along some dod ...
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First evidence of primates regularly sleeping in caves
Scientists have discovered that some ring-tailed lemurs in Madagascar regularly retire to limestone chambers for their nightly snoozes, the first evidence of the consistent, daily use of the same caves and crevices for sleeping among the world's wild p ...
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Living desert underground: In perpetual darkness of limestone cave, surprisingly diverse ecosystem of microbes
Researchers have discovered a surprisingly diverse ecosystem of microbes in a limestone cave near Tucson, Arizona, eking out a living from not much more than drip water, rock and air. The discovery not only expands our understanding of how microbes man ...
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White-lipped peccary trails lead to archeological discovery in Brazil: 4,000- to 10,000-year-old cave drawings
While tracking white-lipped peccaries and gathering environmental data in forests that link Brazil's Pantanal and Cerrado biomes, researchers discovered ancient cave drawings made by hunter-gatherer societies thousands of years ago. ...
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Bonfire Night Caving
2nd and 3rd November 2013 It was a scene from a war film. Clouds of smoke billowed around us. We choked on the acrid smell of gunpowder, as we cowered from the rockets screaming overhead, temporarily illuminating the murky gloom as they explo ...
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Fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in bats proves hardy survivor
After taking an in-depth look at the basic biology of a fungus that is decimating bat colonies as it spreads across the US, researchers report that they can find little that might stop the organism from spreading further and persisting indefinitely in ...
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Late Summer Tomfoolery
21/09/2013 - King PotEmma, Tom and I spent a misty Autumn day bottomming King Pot. With vague intentions to look at the Middle Sump Bypass and the Grasshopper Series, we'd packed neoprene hoods. We made fairly serene progress through the early obstacle ...
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