Conferences

Creating family-friendly conferences in geosciences: a new study needs your help!

Elena Päffgen June 18, 2024

A parent sits with their child in a pushchair beside them during a talk at the EGU General Assembly EGU23. Permission for the photograph given by parent at the time. (Credit: Hazel Gibson, EGU)

Do you think managing a scientific career and having a family is difficult? Would you like to see more family support at conferences? So do we! ‘We’ are Lisa Schielicke, Leonie Esters, and Elena Päffgen from the Meteorological Department of the University of Bonn in Germany. Together, we are working on the project “Family-Friendly Conferences in the Geosciences” to increase ...[Read More]

Subimal Ghosh wins the 2024 Alexander von Humboldt medal for unlocking Indian monsoon secrets

Avijit Majhi June 12, 2024

Subimal Ghosh shaking EGU's President Peter van der Beek's hand during the awards ceremony at EGU's General Assembly 2024

Last month, on 19 April 2024, Subimal Ghosh from IIT Bombay brought immense pride to India by receiving the Alexander von Humboldt Medal 2024 at the EGU 2024 General Assembly in Vienna, Austria. This prestigious award in Geoscience recognizes Ghosh’s exceptional work in hydrometeorology, climate services, climate education, and the societal impacts of the South Asian Summer Monsoon System. Ghosh i ...[Read More]

Past ice and future predictions – scanning and drilling the changing Antarctic ice

Maria Scheel April 17, 2024

In front of the blue EGU press conference background, Olaf Eisen (left), Robert Larter (middle) and Emma Pearce (right) are engaged in discussion.

Fig. 1: Olaf Eisen (AWI, Germany), Robert Larter (British Antarctic Survey) and Emma Pearce (British Antarctic Survey) during the #EGU24 press conference “Unveiling Antarctica’s secrets: new research brings us one step closer to predicting the future of the icy continent” (Photo credit: Jakub Stepanovic).

Did you know that some of the scientists of each General Assembly get invited to a press conference to face a group of curious journalists? I did not – but as press assistant for the #EGU24, I had the unique chance to attend the press conference “Unveiling Antarctica’s secrets: new research brings us one step closer to predicting the future of the icy continent”. Prominent scientists (Fig.1) ...[Read More]

Soil bacteria that hunt like a wolfpack? Myxobacteria and their role in the food web

Maria Scheel April 16, 2024

A photo of a wolf in the middle and four microscopic images of colourful bacterial cultures around it.

Fig. 1 The resemblance between bacteria and a hunting wolf might not be obvious, but come take a dive into the weird ecology of Myxobacteria (Collage with photo credit Garcia et al. 2010 and Julien Riedel via pexels.com).

Picture this: bacteria that can slime their way around the soil, finding their prey, circling it, closing in on it and lysing it (or making their cell pop), just to feed on their prey. It sounds like a far stretch from a wolf to a bacteria, but even other soil predators, the comparably huge nematode worms ( up to 100 times bigger!), are afraid of these bacterial “wolves”. I went to the Soil System ...[Read More]