Welcome to the fourth International Palaeontology Congress! 900 palaeontologists have piled into the land of steak, sun, and malbec in Mendoza, Argentina, for the biggest palaeontology conference that draws from all parts of the field. What I want to do with these posts is just provide snapshot summaries of the talks I’ve been at to provide a window into the conference and the amazing diversity of ...[Read More]
WaterUnderground
Communicating research results through comics: is the permeability of crystalline rock in the shallow crust related to depth, lithology, or tectonic setting?
Mark Ranjram, a Masters student in my research group, wrote a paper on crystalline permeability that is coming out in a special edition of Geofluids on ‘Crustal Permeability’ early in 2015 (other cool papers in early view here). Here is Mark’s awesome response when I asked him if he wanted to write a plain language summary:
Geology for Global Development
Friday Photo (129) – Annual Conference
GfGD Annual Conference 2014 A selection of photographs taken from the GfGD Annual Conference, hosted and supported by the Geological Society of London. The event focused on the skills required to make a long-term, effective contribution to international development. (Credit: Geology for Global Development, 2014)
Geology for Global Development
Guest Blog: Reflections on the Students’ Education Program, Ladakh, June 2014
Celia Willoughby is an undergraduate geography student at University College London. In June 2014 she joined the GfGD team in Ladakh (India) to support the ‘Sustainable Resource Development in the Himalayas’ work – focusing on the hazards education course. Here she shares her reflections on the experience… Ladakh is a beautiful and remote region in Jammu and Kashmir State, ...[Read More]
WaterUnderground
Is groundwater depletion keeping California fruit and veggies cheap during the severe drought?
Food prices in the United States are increasing slightly but not as significantly as one might expect given the severe drought in California. Margret Munro, a science journalist with Postmedia, recently asked me a great question: is groundwater depletion keeping California fruit and veggies cheap during the severe drought? Following up on her article, here is what I found and what it means for the ...[Read More]
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
HGVs – Henceforth Gas Vehicles?
This post was inspired by my recent attendance at the ADBA UK Biomethane & Gas Vehicle conference. You may not own or drive a car, but it is almost inevitable that part of your day-to-day your is delivered by heavy goods vehicle (HGV). That Amazon parcel, the food you bought in the supermarket, the pint of beer you drunk in the pub…it all came on a lorry. This transport sector comprises ...[Read More]
Green Tea and Velociraptors
What causes high retraction rates in high-profile journals?
A Nature News piece is out today featuring comments from me, about how high retraction rates correlate with impact factors in scholarly journals. However, the piece cherry picks my comments a little, and doesn’t really go into that much depth. Bjorn Brembs already has a response up, and seeing as when I was contacted for comments, I mentioned a piece of research from him and other colleague ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Conference Highlights (Part 2)
Over on our Facebook page, we’ve recently been publishing a series of images showing some of the likely highlights of our annual conference next week (Friday 19th September, tickets still available). Here are the second batch… we showed some others last week!
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Coral, wanted dead and alive; a brief excursion into the world of coral science
Today we have a guest post from Dr. Peter Tomiak who delves into the life and death of corals… I completed my undergraduate degree in Biology and Geology at the University of Bristol in 2008. Subsequently I undertook a sponsored internship with Save The Elephants, in Samburu National Park Kenya, before starting a short term position alongside Prof. Adrian Lister at the Natural Histor ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Conference Registration
One week to go… Register Here