You’ve spent months battling with radiators and cold wet weather, but the summer is finally upon us and to make things even worse we’re heading into a heatwave. The office that just weeks ago seemed impossible to keep warm is now so sweltering it feels as though you’re stepping into the sauna when you arrive each morning. Like most people, Jamie has been struggling with this, so I’m here to offer ...[Read More]
The quality of supervision is arguably the most important discriminant between a nice academic experience and a hellish one. For early career scientists, supervisors are the sole responsible for our choice to leave or stay in academia. As the name suggests, supervisors are there to supervise our research activity, as it is all too easy for us specialists to get lost in the details of our project a ...[Read More]
Single author papers. You have seen those. Early in your career you look at them and think “Wow! This person must be really smart to publish all by themselves”. Later on, your reaction shifts to “Ahah! Look at this person, publishing the tenth paper by themselves! Nobody wants to be associated with this stuff!”. Whether in awe, in derision, or because she is actually writing one of those, Loredana ...[Read More]
Questions permeate our daily life. What socks do I want to wear today? Which of the 10 insipid meal choices at the campus canteen do I want as my lunch today? Will I treat myself and get a Mai Tai tonight, or will I stick to a refreshing, good ol’ beer? As geoscientists, asking and answering questions really is our daily job. Not all questions are as deep as Uswah’s though… Why d ...[Read More]
We all somewhat agree that publishing in Nature is a recognition of the value of our research and of the usefulness of our academic career. It does not matter that “our” research topic was bestowed upon us by our supervisor. And it certainly matters not, that we want to leave academia next year. At least we’ll leave with a bang! We all want to publish on the almost-holy pages of ...[Read More]
Whether from posed questions, other blog posts and cinematic detours, the core of Earth is every now and then sparking some interest. In a similar way “Inception” or “Shutter Island” spark interest: it sounds cool, you want to get what is going on, but although you tried several times, you still don’t get it. Today I will report on the answer to a question originally ...[Read More]
Live from the EGU assembly, from an anonymous chair in an anonymous room in the Vienna International Centre, during an anonymous session on some geoscience-related topic, my commitment of reporting the truth as-is does not stop. Siri has recently asked a very practical question concerning the organisation of your EGU experience: How do you make your own personal programme for EGU without screaming ...[Read More]
Mathieu is putting the final touches on his presentation for next week’s crazy science rumble also known as the EGU GA. A hybrid meeting of sorts nonetheless. Scrolling through the schedule, he exasperates: How do you make the most of yet another, sorta-kinda hybrid meeting? Dear Mathieu, Well…. you don’t. You just go through he motions like any other “fun new experience ...[Read More]
“Impostor syndrome” is a condition that leads some of the most brilliant minds of our generation to question their right of being called a “scientist”, even if they are researching a cure for cancer. Or the Earth sciences equivalent of curing cancer. Tatiana may have impostor syndrome as she brilliantly describes one of the symptoms with her question: Where do you find the ...[Read More]
Yo Han feels the need to please everyone. His collaborators, supervisor, office mates, faculty staff and his family (they’re low on the list though). Overly ambitious yet with the weight of the world on his shoulders, he sighs: How can I feel less pressure in my work? Dear Yo Han, Don’t worry so much. I know it’s a stupid answer, and some people just seem to not be able to take t ...[Read More]