Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness

Getting Curious is going spelunking! Caves are full of evidence about our Earth’s past: they can tell us about monsoons in Laos and sea surface temperatures in Mexico over tens of thousands of years ago. They can also help predict our climate future. This week, Professor Kathleen R. Johnson takes us through the incredible world of caves and shares what it’s like to scale 200-foot ladders, kayak all day in the dark, and encounter pythons, big ass spiders, and other creatures along the way—all in the name of science! Kathleen Johnson is a Professor in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). She is a geochemist and a paleoclimatologist who specializes in reconstructing past climate changes using stalagmites from tropical and monsoon regions, with current projects in Laos, Vietnam, and Mexico. In addition, she directs the new UCI CLIMATE Justice initiative which aims to culturally transform the geosciences through training postbaccalaureate and PhD Fellows in commu