‘Now, more than ever, we need science’, thinks the editor of this blogpost as he works from his small studio paid by a rent-burdened academic salary while under lockdown in California due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the need for an open, fair, inclusive science seems to be ignored all across the world by policy makers and university administrations, who refuse to pay graduate st ...[Read More]
By now more and more countries in Europe are hit by the Corona-virus, leading to increasingly strict measures and closures of many public places. We are being asked or obliged to work from home, to limit social contact by staying away from bars, restaurants, sports clubs, museums, theatres and all other places where gatherings of people take place. Simultaneously, we continue to receive worrying m ...[Read More]
The European Geosciences Union (EGU) just announced the launch of EGUsphere, a new online platform designed to promote global networking and open discussion within the Earth, planetary and space science community. EGUsphere will serve as a central repository for all contributions, presentations and manuscripts presented to EGU. In particular, EGUsphere will host abstracts and presentations from th ...[Read More]
The recent coronavirus outbreak (i.e., nCovID-19; Fig. 1) has caused global panic, along with widespread travel bans, home quarantines and country-wide lockdowns. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared nCoVID-19 as a pandemic as of March 11th, 2020 (WHO, 2020). To tackle this global health crisis, scientists are attempting to synthesize a vaccine, while countries are trying to mitigate the n ...[Read More]
Lascar volcano is located in the Antofagasta Region of Chile. This stratovolcano (a conical volcano built up over time through successive eruptions of lava, tephra and ash) of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes is the most active volcano of the region, with a height of 5.592 m (18,34 ft). The last phase of eruptive activity before this photo was taken was on October 30, 2015, which produced an ...[Read More]
I recently had the honour of interviewing Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, who completed his six-year term as the President of the European Research Council (ERC) at the end of 2019. As an award-winning mathematician, he has been a fellow of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique for most of his career. Bourguignon held a Professor position at École Polytechnique (1986-2012) and served ...[Read More]
With the West Antarctic Ice Sheet currently losing ice at a fast pace, leading to sea-level rise, it is very important to better understand the processes by which this ice melting occurs. In this context, Thwaites Glacier is a very good case study of an accelerating glacier, which contributes substantially to sea-level rise, and for which a huge scientific collaboration effort has recently been se ...[Read More]
T-Low feels a little insecure whether that specific niche of the broad spectrum of science merits all of the effort put in: Every now and then I’m starting to wonder if my little branch of science is really worth doing? And if not, which one is? And why? Dear T-Low, Stay doing what you’re doing. Even if you feel a little bit underwhelmed by an apparent lack of interest sometimes. Don&# ...[Read More]
Gender inequality blemishes Earth Sciences more than any other STEM fields [1]. In recent years, many studies have revealed that women hold fewer senior faculty positions than men [1, 2], are given lower ratings to identical abstracts submitted with male author names [3], and are less likely to be first authors of peer-reviewed publications [4]. Providing a collective voice to the female experienc ...[Read More]
During my PhD I was working at the German Neumayer III station in Antarctica for my research on polar atmospheric chemistry. Since my instrument was set up on an observatory south of the main station, every day I would walk past a Scott pyramid tent to go and do my research. One day, in the midst of an Antarctic storm, I caught sight of the tent deep in the drifting snow, and took this picture. Th ...[Read More]
