EGU Blogs

Geology

Geologists as a social stigma?

So I was browsing for content for future blog posts the other day, and came across this video from Friends (the show people of my era grew up with).

Click here to display content from YouTube.
Learn more in YouTube’s privacy policy.

Ross is a palaeontologist, so naturally one of the coolest, smartest and sexiest of all the science breeds, but takes a little dig at geologists here in a social context.

Now compare that to this video from American Dad, in which geologists are portrayed in the opposite manner, in a James Bond-y way.

Click here to display content from YouTube.
Learn more in YouTube’s privacy policy.

So have any of you ever experienced a social stereotyping or generalisation of some sort, positive or negative, when people find out you’re a geologist (or geoscientist of some sort), or have known about it for a while? On a personal level, I get called ‘the dinosaur man’ quite a bit at university, but that’s more of a sub-affectionate jibe, I think. Interested to know what y’all may have experienced!

More sedimentology than you can shake a stick at

Welcome to Day 3 of the EGU Annual Meeting. Do check the Geology for Global Development page too for some cracking updates on the sessions, particularly on the more ‘applied’ side of the geosciences, by Rosalie Testovin. This post is a quick break-down of some cool science from the morning session on the interaction between tectonics (faulting and folding from plate-related movements) and stratigraphy (the way in which rock packages are linked with each other). Naturally, I had to cover this one, as it was co-sponsored by the Geological Society of London (I’m an ex-employee), and was convened by a member of my department (Dr. Alex Whittaker) at Imperial College with another giving a talk (Prof. Phillip Allen). Here’s a quick break down of some of the talks (at least in as much detail as to be expected from a vertebrate palaeontologist):

[Read More]