Category Archives: academic life

How I (mostly) slept through the one of the largest earthquakes to hit NW Europe in 200 years

In the early hours of 13 April 1992, the border region in western Europe where Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands meet was shaken by a magnitude 5.4 earthquake, caused by northeast-southwest extension in the Roer Valley Graben. The shaking was … Continue reading

Categories: academic life, earthquakes

How useful are lectures, really?

There has been an interesting discussion amongst the geologists on Twitter, that I’ve archived over on Geotweeps Discuss…, over the role of the lecture in undergraduate education. This was in response to an NPR story claiming that in physics at … Continue reading

Categories: academic life, science education

Writing Challenge: The end, or is it?

“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” – Douglas Adams I’m a week overdue for my final sciwrite check in, and I didn’t make my goal of submitting the manuscript by the time … Continue reading

Categories: academic life, publication

Writing Challenge, Week 3: Slow and steady

It’s been three weeks since I issued the initial challenge to join me in a month-ish of intense writing activity. Last week I needed to redefine what I meant by making satisfactory progress, and several of you shared your own … Continue reading

Categories: academic life, by Anne, publication

Dear Nature, You got a sexist story, but when you published it, you gave it your stamp of approval and became sexist too.

Dear Nature, “Womanspace” by Ed Rybicki is the most appalling thing I have ever read in a scientific journal. When I read the Futures (science fiction) piece you published on 29 September 2011, about how the hero and a man … Continue reading

Categories: academic life, by Anne, publication, ranting, society