I'm a "dirt-ologist". I love studying the interface of human and environment interaction, often asking the rather rhetorical question: "Do we change the landscape, or does the landscape change us?"
I also captain the ISS Insanitekian, a startup adventure of a lifetime.
Phthalates. Parabens. Pesticides. Lead. Industrial waste. All of these things are present in our lives. Clearly, the closer you live to a rural area, the more likely you’d be in contact with pesticides, and the closer you live to a city, the more likely you’ll come into contact with industrial waste. Since the early 2000s, …
In every business marketing is a priority. Every. Business. That includes your science gig. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling an environmental clean up service, engineering a product, building a specialised software programme, or any other applied science. Marketing is about communication, and you need it to not only explain to people what you do, …
There is a lot of conflicting advice from business/life coaches out there. One will tell you to slow down, the next will tell you to embrace the hustle. Your body screams for sleep, and your brain screams to get all the ideas out. What’s the independent researcher to do? Be flexible. Seriously. Some days you …
Here is the webinar for March, 2019. I’m terribly sorry about the length and quality of this one. As I mentioned in the beginning of the video, I had a full-blown head cold that made everything more difficult. Thus, the video isn’t very exciting. Come to think of it, neither is the audio.
The time around the World Wars was an interesting one for science. A great many things were discovered, then invented off these new illuminations. There was one that stood out for his slow, creative genius that, through his belief that physics and chemistry are intertwined, discovered thermodynamics. Following the threads of evidence, Max Planck travelled …
Hundreds of papers. That’s how many papers I had to write through my academic career. There were at least 5 per class, and each one required reading, summarising, synthesising, and citing countless pieces of work. 5 classes per semester, 2 semesters per year, and 9 years of education. After the first semester I was desperate …
Bismuth crystals. They are majestic and beautiful looking structures, and since bismuth melts at 520°F, it can even be made at home — if you have stainless steel pot you don’t mind sacrificing for science. All you need for this is a stove, a stainless steel pot, and a stainless steel spatula. Take a look …
Remember, there are no handouts and notes for this one because I want you to take away the lessons that matter to you and the place you’re at right now.
Humans love beautiful things. There is just something about the concept of beauty that draws our eyes, captures our minds and hearts. The public perception of sciences doesn’t usually include the beauty we scientists see in our work. This past month I was able to participate in two science fairs. The feedback that the public …