“I am sick of impact factors and so is science.” Stephen Curry said it best back in 2012. The impact factor is just one of the many banes of academia, from it’s complete misuse to being falsely inflated by publishers. I want to draw attention to a new article that addresses the causes behind this …[Read More]
Retired blogs
The Cambridge Science Festival
Last night, I was honoured to have spoken at the final evening lecture at the Cambridge Science Festival, along with Nick Crumpton, Anjali Goswami, Rob Asher, and Stephanie Pierce, about why palaeontology is important. Below is a rough transcript of some of what my talk was about. Unlike the others, I didn’t discuss my own …[Read More]
Friday Photo (120) – Pacaya Lava Flows
Basaltic Lava Flows From the Eruption of Pacaya, Guatemala, in 2010 (Credit: Joel Gill, 2014) (This image, and others taken in Guatemala, is available for free use (subject to terms and conditions) from the EGU Image Repository)
Some personal perspectives from a PhD student on the peer-review system
This is a follow-up to a previous post from September 2013 entitled ‘Soliciting peer reviews from PhD students’. In that piece, I summarised the responses I’d received from a number of editors of peer-reviewed journals in the field of Quaternary Science having asked them their feelings on soliciting peer reviews from PhD students. Some recent …[Read More]
Steampunk takes evolution to the next level
Sharing this purely because it’s amazing. Hat-tip to John Hutchinson for sharing!
Growth of the Kameni Islands Volcano, Santorini, Greece
A new paper, published in the journal GeoResJ, reveals the intricate details of the volcanic Kameni islands that lie in the flooded caldera of Santorini, Greece. The Kameni islands started growing shortly after the explosive eruption that formed much of the present day caldera. For the past 3500 years or so these islands have grown …[Read More]
Field Research in Guatemala (5) – Photo Diary
After 2 months based in Guatemala undertaking hazards research, I am soon to return home. I will be continuing this series of posts over the next few months, reflecting on aspects of conducting research overseas and thinking through results. Guatemala is a stunningly beautiful country, with a dynamism reflected in everything from the landscapes to the …[Read More]
Tolbachik – a mineralogist’s paradise
Tolbachik is a basaltic volcanic massif lying at the southern end of the Kliuchevskoi group in Kamchatka, Russia. It comprises two overlapping cones: Plosky Tolbachik, a Holocene shield volcano extending to 3 km in diameter; and the older (Pleistocene) Ostry Tolbachik, a sharp-topped stratovolcano reaching some 3,700 m in height. Eruptions in 1975-76 and 2012-2013 …[Read More]
Is Torosaurus Triceratops? The debate rages on!
For some time now, there has been much debate about whether our beloved dinosaur, Triceratops, is a distinct species, or a younger version of a bigger ceratopsian, Torosaurus – the great Toroceratops’ debate. Proponents of both sides of the argument have made detailed quantitative and qualitative points, and there doesn’t really seem to have been …[Read More]
UK Air Pollution: March 2014
After the UK’s wettest winter since 1910, spring has sprung with several warm and clear days in March so far. High pressure has been the dominant meteorological situation, which has seen clear skies during the day and cold nights, with fog settling overnight and continuing into the morning. While the high pressure and much reduced …[Read More]