Social Science

GeoTalk: meet Robert Piotrowski, geomythologist and folklorist

Simon Clark December 12, 2025

Robert Piotrowski

Hello Robert! Thank you for joining GeoTalk. Before we turn the page, could you introduce yourself to our readers? I am an ethnologist and cultural anthropologist. I have the privilege of working in ‘Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Research into the Anthropocene’, led by Prof. Dariusz Brykała, which is part of the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organisation of the Polish Academy of Sciences. ...[Read More]

GeoPolicy: What really drives political decision-making?

Chloe Hill July 26, 2019

Credit: Angelocordeschi, Adobe Stock, 2019

On July 17 2019, the EU Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) published a report highlighting how thinking is challenged by today’s information environment and the role of evidence-informed policymaking in a well-functioning democracy. Titled Understanding our political nature, the report was produced with the assistance of 60 international experts in the humanities, behavioural and socia ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: The calamity of eruptions, or an eruption of benefits?

Laura Roberts-Artal August 7, 2015

Mt. Bromo Panorama. Credit: Jimmy McIntyre (distributed via Wikimedia Commons)

So here is a question: why would anyone want to live in the vicinity of an active volcano? The risks are well known, with hazards arising from lava flows, lahars, ash falls, debris avalanches, and pyroclastic density currents, with many often having deadly consequences. But despite the danger, more than half a billion people live in the direct vicinity of volcanoes. Could it be that communities pr ...[Read More]