You may have heard, the bees are in danger.
Well in fact, they are experiencing what is know as colony collapse disorder (sounds pretty nasty to me), which means the hives are dying off. The culprits for this are wide ranging including pesticides, climate change, altered land use and alien species (not actual aliens, species that are not native to an area). But the crux of the matter is, no one is sure if there is one cause, or if it’s a combination of many factors.
It’s my turn to be stranded on a Desert Island where all my worldly possessions have sunk into the deep sea amid a large storm. I can choose just one book, geology themed of course, to take on the rescue boat. Which one should I choose?
A short history of nearly everything Bill Bryson
This book needs no introduction. Hilarious and fascinating. If you haven’t read it then buy it now! Some may say this is not technically a geological book, but Bill Bryson does pack in a heck of a lot of geology for the curious travel writer. I remember reading this book before I knew a geology degree even existed and reading the volcanoes chapter over and over again. Back then, I thought Yellowstone was the coolest thing since sliced bread. No surprise I’m a volcanologist now!
Following on from Elspeth’s PhD in 40 seconds, I decided to document the goings on in the basement of the Wills Building. I tried to capture a second a day for a month (allowing for artistic license), and here is the result. Enjoy!
The background music is Apply Some Pressure by Maxïmo Park – I find all the lyrics hugely appropriate to everything that I do in the BEEST labs…
I’m a big science fiction fan, actually I go so far as to say I am a geek. I love reading it, I love to talk about it and I especially love watching it. I am particular fond (I’m going to stop using the word love as I think you all get it by now) of Star Trek. This obsession is a family trait with my father and uncle instilling it into the next Generation!
Dr Emma Williams (née Humphreys)
Analytical chemist, Natural History Museum
PhD title “Carbonatite-silicate volcanism and mantle metasomatism: Case studies from Calatrava, Spain“
A lot of people think that doing an Earth Science PhD involves looking at rocks. Most of the time they’d be wrong (experimental petrology = making pretend rocks; geochemistry = water; geophysics = computers; palaeontology = colouring in), but just occasionally, I do get to play with the real thing. From sample pick-up to analysis, it’s quite a journey – allow me to explain… Continue reading
In the early hours of 6th April 2009, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit the city of L’Aquila, Italy. 309 people died and around 20,000 buildings were destroyed. Today, what most people remember isn’t the magnitude of the quake or where exactly L’Aquila is, but rather that six scientists and a government official were put on trial following the disaster and charged with manslaughter. Each has been sentenced to six years in prison. Continue reading
PhD life is often enigmatic to the outside world. Sometimes even enigmatic to ourselves. One of our grand blog ideas is to document what the nuts and bolts of doing an Earth Science PhD are really like. So without further ado, here’s a little video of where my PhD has taken me over the beginning of 2013…
There’s suitably uplifting soundtrack (because doing a PhD is uplifting) is Lights Out by Santigold. I have no idea what the copyright rules are so perhaps I will have to change it sometime!
Dr Ceri-Wyn Thomas
Publishing editor, IOP Publishing
PhD title: “Decoding the fossil record of embryonic development”
You may have noticed that the blog has undergone a bit of a revamp. Our new header images have been supplied by some intrepid travellers from our PhD cohort. Find out a bit more about them below!