Category Archives: ranting

Geologists in the movies: the myth of the maverick

[submitted for The Accretionary Wedge #7] It’s a fact of life that scientific accuracy is not generally at the top of Hollywood’s to-do list when making a movie. Any scientist can no doubt recall multiple occasions when their ability to … Continue reading

Categories: public science, ranting

Napalm is not a good fire extinguisher

How not to look innocent when you’re accused of academic misconduct
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Categories: academic life, ranting

It’s our language and we want it back!

It’s English. You can’t change it without our say-so.
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Categories: ranting

AGU? Bah, humbug

Anyone who has noticed my latest Nature column will be aware that I have had to forgo the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco for yet another year. I suppose I can feel virtuous about not ramping up my already … Continue reading

Categories: academic life, ranting

The postdoc is willing, but the lab equipment is weak

Devotees of Star Wars will remember those classic scenes in the Empire Strikes back where the Millennium Falcon, having cleverly jinked and dodged around its Imperial pursuers, makes to leave them in its dust trails by engaging the hyperdrive system. … Continue reading

Categories: academic life, ranting