earth-blog.esc.cam.ac.uk WordPress

21st September 202024th November 2020

Could there be life on Venus? Dr Paul Rimmer explains

A UK-led team of astronomers recently discovered a rare molecule – phosphine – in the clouds of Venus that could have been created by microbes.

We caught up with one of the co-authors of the study – Dr Paul Rimmer, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Earth Sciences Cambridge with affiliations at Cavendish Astrophysics and the MRC Labratory of Molecular Biology, to hear more about this extraordinary finding – and what it means for life beyond Earth.

14th September 202014th September 2020

Seismology in schools

Throughout July, Gemma Shaw, Hero Bain, and myself (all Earth Sciences students at varying levels) set out on an internship spearheaded by Dr Jenny Jenkins of the Deep Earth Seismology Group. Our aim was to bring the latest research from Cambridge Earth Sciences to secondary schools across the country.

15th July 2020

Studying in lockdown (or a lack thereof)

Of all the cities to be locked down in away from Cambridge, my hometown of Durham wouldn’t normally make for too much of a contrast. Winding cobbled streets, hordes of students with a penchant for college stash and absolutely no sign of the 21^st century are ordinarily staples of both cities. Yet when I headed home in March, the change felt far greater than usual.

8th June 2020

Research in Lockdown: Labs Closed

It’s been just shy of two months (I think) since I cleared my desk and left Cambridge as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This blog is a bit of a summary of my life in lockdown, my thoughts about my PhD progress, and my aims for the future.

26th May 202026th May 2020

Research in Lockdown: Fieldwork Disrupted

Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, Java; image credit: NationalGeographic/Manamana

My PhD concerns a longstanding question—how do valuable metals move through volcanic systems? Since starting my PhD in September 2018, I’ve been looking forward to testing my hypotheses on this topic in the field, on a six-week expedition called the Metals in Magmas field campaign. Like many Earth scientists, I spent months planning the project’s logistical and technical details. But, two weeks before the fieldwork was set to begin, the outbreak of the current global pandemic stopped the project in its tracks. My plans are now on hold and my PhD can’t continue as originally billed. In this blog post, I hope to share my perspective on the impact of COVID-19 on my PhD research.

6th May 2020

WACSWAIN: Sherman Island Drilling—Part Three

A photo of sunset lit peaks behind an ice-filled bay, taken from the opening of a red canvas tent.

In the final instalment of this WACSWAIN fieldwork diary, Isobel Rowell describes the heartbreak of ending her fieldwork earlier than planned, as drilling takes a dramatic turn.

27th April 20206th May 2020

WACSWAIN: Sherman Island Drilling—Part Two

Photo of a pyramid tent in the snow on Sherman Island

In part two of her three-part series, Isobel Rowell describes her daily routine as part of the WACSWAIN team, drilling into the Antarctic ice sheet and sampling ice chippings from the borehole in search of ice from the last interglacial.

14th April 202027th April 2020

WACSWAIN: Sherman Island Drilling—Part One

A photo of strikingly blue icebergs floating in the bay, with grey rocks in the foreground and dark, moody skies.

In a three-part series of blog posts, Isobel Rowell describes her experiences on the second field campaign of the WACSWAIN project. Part one outlines the motives behind the Sherman Island drilling project, and details the team’s journey to their drill site.

earth-blog.esc.cam.ac.uk Wordpress

Posts