January 16, 2020 3:40 PM EDT
I always enjoyed telling stories. When I was little I liked the feeling of having people interested in whatever I was telling. I used to entertain my classmates every morning telling them about whatever dreams I had the night before. And now, I enjoy telling my research to everyone who wants to listen.
December 19, 2019 10:03 AM EDT
Scientists found, in the 2018 IPCC 1.5 report, that we only have 12 years to substantially reduce emissions in order to avert unprecedented levels of devastation. The murkiness surrounding the issue is not due to a lack of energy alternatives, but rather depriving ourselves from cleaner, economical innovations due to political obstinacy. While there are many factors implicitly contributing to carbon dioxide emissions, capitalism in fossil-fuel reliant countries is found to be a huge culprit. Read more >
December 4, 2019 11:02 AM EDT
We live in an age where the world and its population seem fragile and vulnerable, yet at the same time, full of radical potential. Millions of people face life-threatening opioid addiction, the global climate continues to worsen, voting infrastructure has been compromised, and the security of our health and financial data has been undermined. On the plus side, alternative energy technologies are becoming cheaper and more widely adopted, our understanding of gravitational waves is unfolding, quantum computing is becoming a reality, and nearly every country in the world has agreed to achieve a set of ambitious sustainability goals. A thread connecting all of these issues, good and bad, is science policy. Read more >
December 3, 2019 4:13 PM EDT
Nearly three years into the Trump administration, we’ve seen so many attacks on science—as well some spirited defenses of it—that it can be hard to remember all that’s occurred. To help us all stay on top of fast-moving situations, I’m starting a new project: quarterly updates on scientific integrity actions. The somewhat belated update for the third quarter of 2019 is below, and future editions will also appear on this blog. Read more >
November 25, 2019 10:10 AM EDT
We live in a time of extremes. Our daily news cycle is replete with extreme language, extreme corruption, and extreme threats. It’s easy to become numb, a self-defense mechanism, and equate these extremes with normal. I sometimes find myself falling victim to this mentality, and quickly snap out of it.
Before this barrage of daily extremes I had a much more benign, Earthly connection with the concept of ‘extreme’. I’m a scientist who studies our northern forests, boreal forests. I’ve always been fascinated by the ability of boreal trees, animals, and other organisms to thrive in such extreme conditions. After flying north and setting foot in a dense, mossy boreal forest, the extreme is palpable. Read more >
