Sehnsucht

Here you'll find science, philosophy, politics, nature, occasional adventuring, and the dichotomy of grace and atrocity that defines our human nature.

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Hi Tumblr; 

Apologies it’s been a hell of a PhD so far and I can’t believe I still have 101 followers (?!?)

I want to pick this thing up again because occasionally spewing thoughts and feelings and things into the void was rather therapeutic for me during my MSc and earlier doctoral days, and a lot has gone down since I last visited this corner of the internet.

So uhh... here are the papers I’ve published since then:

Application of Nordic microalgal-bacterial consortia for nutrient removal from wastewater

Emergent green technologies for cost-effective valorization of microalgal biomass to renewable fuel products under a biorefinery scheme

Biologically-mediated carbon capture and utilization by microalgae towards sustainable CO2 biofixation and biomass valorization – A review

(DM me if you don’t have access to my papers and want to read them!! I will email any of my publications upon request, always)

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Neat black hole stuff for citizen scientists

GONDOR CALLS FOR AID

(rather WVU calls for citizen science) 

Run a black hole simulation for them on your personal computers and -- "...contribute to construction of the largest numerical relativity gravitational wave catalogues ever produced."

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View this post on Instagram

The future is green 🐸 #biotech #microalgae #vihreäsuomi (at University of Eastern Finland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsdL5c1nFit/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=espa2o0itm7b

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Happy new year from Narnia

[humanoidhistory]

50 YEARS AGO TODAY: Apollo 8 blasts off from Cape Canaveral on December 21, 1968. It was the first human mission to reach the Moon.

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One final shoutout to #thekeysbar in Scranton for celebrating weirdos

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“We are careening towards the edge of the abyss,” Guterres said. “Everyday we fail to act is a day that we step a little closer towards a fate that none of us wants, a fate that will resonate through generations in the damage done to humankind and life on Earth. Our fate is in our hands.”

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The earliest known photographs of my mother fanning that STEM flame; myself and my little sister at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, circa 1995 by that very loud jacket.

Mum likes to tell the story of how she tried to explain the orbit of the moon and earth around the sun to me as a toddler, and was a touch flabbergasted when I understood. She took us to zoos and aquariums, museums, national parks, and I’ve a very clear memory of puking on the way down from Mt. Diablo after an astronomy event. I was born curious, and immeasurably fortunate to have had that curiosity cultivated from my earliest years.

My bachelor’s years weren't easy, but, thanks to both parents, I found myself in a biology programme at a small university with a truly magnificent staff. My thesis supervisor gave me every opportunity to learn techniques uncommon in my field, and even found a way to employ me as a research assistant for my last two years there (he knew I loved his lab, and hated my retail job). He’d let me tinker with (rather expensive) instruments and allowed my interest in analytical chemistry to blossom. My physics professor was another mentor who inspired and guided me. Without him I’m not sure I’d have pursued my academic career in Europe.

I moved to Finland in 2015 for my master’s studies in environmental biology, where I had the unique opportunity to minor in international policy & law. I believe that scientists should actively engage with legislative processes, and it was here that I found my first platform in politics. My interest in astronomy was rekindled when NASA found its way into my Finnish education, through their Epic Challenge programme. Overall, I can't adequately describe how this icy corner of the north effervesces with international intellectual culture. Brilliant minds come from all over the world to study here; for the quality of education, and the egalitarianism that defines Finnish society.

Through my international family, I found work during the height of the refugee crisis, as children’s activities coordinator in some of the largest camps in Greece. I never dreamed I’d be writing algebra problems with sidewalk chalk for eager children too long away from school; math is a universal language.

After receiving my MSc, I worked in Denmark, where I’d expected to thoroughly detest teaching first year physiology. Nothing quite compares to being able to fan little STEM flames in students of your own however, it was incredible (my favourite trick: unicorn gifs).

And now, my PhD supervisor has given me the chance to delve into biofuel engineering, a topic that has captured me since my first course in bioengineering (taught by the aforementioned physics professor). My career has really been defined by people seeing a spark in me and giving me a shot, and they’re all responsible for crafting the enthusiastic and interdisciplinary nerd you see before you. I’m so grateful for every opportunity to pay it forward.

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The stars aligned and @silhouettelies_ reunited during my annual visit 🖤 there was much fist bumping and merriment.

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With endless patience you shall carry out your duty, and your firmness shall be tempered with tenderness for your people. Neither anger nor fury shall lodge in your mind, and all your words and actions shall be marked with calm deliberation. … Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the earth - the unborn of the future Nation.

Constitution of the Five Nations, 1916

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How to do the science on a rainy Monday

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Shovelling for the old people = adult excuse to play in the snow = everybody wins ❄️

[rjzimmerman]

California’s Wildfire and Climate Change Warnings Are Still Too Conservative, Scientist Says

Another hot, dry year is fueling the state’s deadliest, most destructive wildfire. Scientists say wildfires here are consistently surpassing their projections.

Excerpt from this InsideClimate News article:

As firefighters in California battle to contain the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history, a climate scientist says the reality on the ground is surpassing what a government report projected just months ago in assessing the links between climate change and an increasing frequency and severity of wildfires in the state.

After a dry summer and fall, powerful winds over the past week swept flames through the town of Paradise in Northern California, killing at least 48 people and destroying more than 7,500 homes, officials said Tuesday. Two more fires near Los Angeles chased more than 200,000 people from their homes as the flames quickly spread, adding to a string of fires that have caused billions of dollars in damage this year.

“I think what we have been observing has consistently been outpacing what we’ve been predicting,” said LeRoy Westerling, professor of management of complex systems at the University of California, Merced, who modeled the risk of future wildfires as part of the California Climate Change Assessment released in August.

The report estimated that the average area burned by wildfires would increase 77 percent by 2100 and the frequency of extreme wildfireswould increase by nearly 50 percent if global greenhouse gas emissions continue at a high rate.

Westerling said wildfires are likely to continue to outpace those recent projections because the underlying global climate models used underestimate precipitation changes in California, including periods of prolonged drought.

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Petition to officially consider those fleeing the California wildfires climate refugees within the United States (as defined under Article I of the UN’s 1969 OAU Convention)

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Monument to the fallen of WWI; Joensuun Hautausmaa. "The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters." -- Antonio Gramsci, critic and eventual prisoner of the Mussolini regime.

[scientificphilosopher]

via: Cosmosology

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Happy birthday, Carl; the world misses you.

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A literature review interrupted