Is this concept bed taking earthquake-safety to the next level? The fact is that an earthquake can happen at any time of day. Unfortunately, the reality is that many die trapped under the rubble of their own homes. The featured beds (shown here via YouTube) show various earthquake-proof bed designs. The beds have strong metal structures that enclose when an earthquake strikes. In case of a buildin ...[Read More]
Energy, Resources and the Environment
Communicating Contested Geoscience at EGU 2016
Communicating with the public is increasingly an issue for geoscientists both in research and in industry, but how do we deal with communicating those aspects of our work that are controversial? Many scientists shy away from those issues that are likely to draw the attention of an angry public, because, quite reasonably, they don’t want to be attacked for just doing their job. But these controvers ...[Read More]
Seismology
Peer review: Single-, double-blind, or open discussion
Within the scientific community, it is common practice that the peer-review process for a submitted article to a journal is kept anonymous. That is, only the journal Editor selects (and knows) who the referees are, usually three. This is also known as single-blind review. One of the main reason behind this custom is to allow the referees give genuine feedback, without fear of causing any personal ...[Read More]
Cryospheric Sciences
Image of the Week — Happy New Year
December 2014, 11:50 p.m., the sun licks the horizon on Derwael ice rise; It’s time to go back to the tent … The shot was taken during the 2014 IceCon Field campaign in East Antarctica (read Brice’s blog post telllling about his first journey to Antarctica). Here, you can also read about the 2016 field season of the IceCon project, which started just a few days ago.
Seismology
Important upcoming deadlines for EGU 2016
As many return to their desks to continue on their research, take note of these imminent deadlines for the upcoming European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2016. Wednesday 13th of January: EGU2016 call for papers (open until 13:00 CET). Submit your short course ideas. Early Career Scientists are encouraged to run their own short courses either as individuals or as a group. Short courses are us ...[Read More]
Energy, Resources and the Environment
Opportunity for Early Career Scientists
The Energy Resources and Environment Division of the EGU are looking to appoint an Early Career Scientist (ECS) representative in 2016. ECS make up a significant proportion of the EGU membership and it’s important to us that their voices are heard. ECS representatives are the link between the Union and its ECS membership. They give a voice to early career researchers and ensure their needs are met ...[Read More]
Cryospheric Sciences
Image of the Week — Greetings from Antarctica
Christmas greetings from people at Rothera Research Station, Adelaide Island, Antarctica. Rothera, which is the British Antarctic Survey’s largest base in Antarctica, is a centre for marine biology and gateway for getting scientists into their deep field camps. Christmas Day is a regular working day for the staff of around 90. However the chefs will be getting everyone into the festive spiri ...[Read More]
Biogeosciences
Insights into the ocean crust and deep biosphere – ECORD Summer School 2015
Summer time as an early career geochemist can mean many things, to some it is vacation time, to others it is field season, and yet for others it is time to enroll in a summer school. ECORD, the European Consortium for Ocean Drilling, offers at least one summer school a year. If you work with foraminifera you may be familiar with the Urbino Summer School in Paleoclimatology, sorry to disappoint, bu ...[Read More]
Cryospheric Sciences
Image of the Week — AGU Fall Meeting 2015
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, which takes place every December in San Francisco is ending today. With more than 24 000 attendees, 14 000 poster presentations and 7 000 talks, the AGU meeting is the largest conference on geophysical sciences in the World. The cryosphere is one the topics covered by the meeting and we hope that this year edition was a fruitful for every partici ...[Read More]
Cryospheric Sciences
Image of the Week: Ice Sheets in the Climate
Ice sheets play a central role in the climate system. They store significant amounts of fresh water and are the conveyor belts for transporting snow that accumulates on land back into the oceans. The figure above shows a few of the ice-climate interactions. In the figure below (click on the figure for full resolution) we see the complete picture of the processes taking place between ice sheets, so ...[Read More]