Energy, Resources and the Environment

GeoTalk: meet Thanushika Gunatilake, researcher of earthquake impacts on geothermal energy

Simon Clark October 28, 2025

Thanushika Gunatilake

Hello Thanushika – welcome to GeoTalk! Before we delve deeper, could you introduce yourself to our readers? Thank you for having me! I’m Thanushika Gunatilake, an Assistant Professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. My research connects natural and human-induced processes in the Earth’s crust; from earthquake nucleation in the central Apennines, subduction dynamics, and volcanic activity, to geoth ...[Read More]

The false narrative of over-population: why Malthus had it wrong when it comes to global resources

Asmae Ourkiya July 11, 2025

Image title: Getting Crowded Taken by Albin Hammerle. Source: Imaggeo

Just like me, you may have, at some point in your life, come across Malthusian rhetoric: There are too many mouths to feed and not enough resources for a growing population. But what if the problem isn’t people, but an appetite for profit-driven extraction? In this blog, I peel back the myth of overpopulation and show how pinning ecological collapse on mere population numbers diverts attention fro ...[Read More]

Hoverboards, fusion, and future farms: What did Back to the Future (II) get right?

Asmae Ourkiya July 3, 2025

Image source: Bandas sonoras de cine

Fourty years ago, the movie Back to the Future (1985) revved its DeLorean into some hearts, zipping watchers back to 1955 with a grin and a flux capacitor–fueled paradox. Today we’re not just celebrating that original joyride’s 40th anniversary; we’re strapping in for the wild flight of Part II (1989), the movie that dared to ask, “what if Marty McFly really could hoverboard through 2015?” W ...[Read More]

Urban resilience in the age of energy interdependence: Lessons from the 2025 Iberian blackout

Asmae Ourkiya June 6, 2025

Photo by Ante Hamersmith. Source: Unsplash

On April 28, 2025, the Iberian Peninsula experienced an unprecedented power outage that plunged Spain and Portugal into darkness for hours. This large-scale blackout disrupted daily life for millions and exposed the vulnerabilities inherent in contemporary energy infrastructures. It also highlighted the critical importance of cross-border energy cooperation in mitigating such crises. In a striking ...[Read More]