Universities are complex, organic institutions. Their heart is the academic hub of scholarship and research, sustained by the ever-changing life-blood of students who come through to learn, to challenge, to grow, and ultimately to leave, having left their mark on those who have taught them. The excitement of working in a University environment is the daily experience of being challenged to think ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Who is Reading the GfGD Blog?
The GfGD blog moved to its current home, hosted on the EGU blog network, in September. Since this move our readership has been recorded in detail by ‘google analytics’, telling us the nationality of visitors, the website that referred them (mainly twitter and facebook) and the length of time they spent on the site (averaging one and a half minutes – looks like people are staying ...[Read More]
GeoSphere
Geology Photo of the Week #32 – Name that squid!
This edition of the photo of the week highlights another piece from my personal collection. This is a cephalopod. More specifically it is a member of the Order Endocerida and the Family Endoceratidae. This creature, which hopefully you can see was pretty large (golf tee for scale) was the largest of the Ordovician cephalopods found in Ontario and this is a particularly fine/large example mainly be ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Friday Photo (77): Stuck in the mud on Seymour Island
Geologists from BAS get stuck in the mud on Seymour island, Antarctica. Credit: Rowan Whittle (c) Geology for Global Development 2013
Green Tea and Velociraptors
Social Media for Science Outreach – A Case Study: That social media thang
This was initially posted at: http://www.nature.com/spoton/2013/04/social-media-for-science-outreach-a-case-study-that-social-media-thang/ as part of a series of case studies exploring how academics use social media. Jon began university life as a geologist, following this with a treacherous leap into the life sciences with a course in biodiversity and taxonomy. Now undertaking a PhD in tetrapod b ...[Read More]
GeoSphere
Guest Post: Dr. Sam Illingworth – To Boldy Go
Satellites are now so ubiquitous in our lives that there is something of a precedent to take them for granted. A normal daily routine for may people across the world may include watching television (satellite) as you check your twitter account (satellite) and have a look at the weather (satellite), all before you’ve even eaten your breakfast (not a satellite); whilst for those of us in the remote ...[Read More]
VolcanicDegassing
Chaiten: anniversary of an eruption
May 1st marks the anniversary of the start of the first historical eruption of Chaiten, a small volcano in southern Chile, in 2008. A lot has been written on the eruption elsewhere, starting with Erik Klemetti’s eruptions blog which first reported on the event at the time. This is an opportunity to share some field photos, which I took during field visits to Chaiten in 2009. At the time of t ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
GfGD Launch Event at the University of Leeds
The GfGD University group at Leeds recently held a series of short talks to launch itself within the department. With financial support from the Student Experience team, the event consisted of three short talks from three members of the school, including the head of the department, followed by informal snacks and wine to allow students to mull over the topics discussed. The speakers raised the iss ...[Read More]
GeoSphere
Geology Photo of the Week #31/Science Travels
Sorry for the brief hiatus from blogging. This past week I was in Kenora and Dryden, Ontario getting into some great science outreach with an organization from uOttawa called Science Travels. Science Travels is a science outreach organization that sends science graduate students from the University of Ottawa and Carleton to northern communities to give presentations about a variety of science topi ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Big River Rising: a Tale of Seasonal Flooding in Manila
To highlight the importance of Christian Aid’s disaster risk reduction (DRR) work, partly funded by the UK government, the charity produced an interactive web documentary called Big River Rising, which demonstrates the importance of science in helping Filipino slum dwellers cope with the seasonal flooding that regularly destroys their shantytown homes. The web documentary was shot during the drama ...[Read More]