Outreach

Friedrich Mohs and the mineral scale of hardness

Hazel Gibson September 25, 2020

Image credit: Hazel Gibson

One of the most famous identification methods in the study of mineralogy is the Mohs Scale of Hardness. A comparative scale, based on the hardness of each mineral, it is a way geoscientists can compare minerals to each other and organise them based upon an easily testable physical characteristic. Each level of hardness has a value, from 1 (the softest) to 10 (the hardest) and each number is associ ...[Read More]

GeoTalk: Nadine Gabriel, creator of #AreYouSiO2? and Assistant Curator of Fossil Mammals.

Hazel Gibson September 11, 2020

Credit: Nadine Gabriel

Hi Nadine, thanks for speaking with us today, can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you got to where you are now? Thank you for inviting me! I’m a geologist and the Assistant Curator of Fossil Mammals at the Natural History Museum, London. I studied MSci Geology at University College London and I absolutely enjoyed the subject. It was really interesting to learn about the geol ...[Read More]

Geotalk: Olga Vindušková, the Soil System Sciences Division’s co-blog and social media co-ordinator!

Hazel Gibson August 21, 2020

Credit: Jaroslav Kukla

Hello Olga, thanks for speaking with us today, can you tell us a little about your background and how you got to where you are now? Thank you for inviting me for what might be my first interview! My background is in environmental science and I chose to study soils because of how useful they are (in supporting ecosystems and our well-being) and how interdisciplinary their study is, spanning biology ...[Read More]

The benefits of online writing retreats in these weird times

Mathew Stiller-Reeve July 17, 2020

Photo from an online writing retreat with PhD students and early career scientists from The National Graduate School in Infection Biology and Antimicrobials in Norway, by Mathew Stiller-Reeve.

The world shut down due to COVID-19, but PhDs did not. During these unfamiliar times, most PhD students have found themselves working from home trying more than ever to write as much as possible. Over the past few of months, I have led several online writing retreats in collaboration with doctoral research schools and universities in Norway. They seem to have been very successful to help PhD’s wi ...[Read More]