Musings from astrophysics to ecology

  • Bridges

    Let’s talk today about how I have been approaching finding a first research subject in ecology after my initial conversations. When it comes to entering a research field, it works a bit differently when you start as an already experienced researcher, compared to a new undergrad or PhD student. Your new colleagues just are not […]

    Continue reading

  • Conversations & conservation

    Today I would like to talk a bit about the importance of conversations and new encounters. A key ingredient to successfully getting into something very new, at least for me, is to talk to competent people, to get solid advice from both reliable friends and experts, to find mentors, to carefully listen with humility to […]

    Continue reading

  • Overcoming doubts and getting started

    Changing research topics and, even more, completely changing fields, is no easy feat, even for a seasoned butterfly researcher, and it takes time to overcome one’s own doubts and limitations. I see ecology first and foremost as a life science, and I haven’t done any biology since high-school – that is, I haven’t done any […]

    Continue reading

  • Dogs and butterflies

    Scientists usually specialize in a field, and on a particular subject, quite early in their career (usually, during their PhD). Due to the ever increasing complexity, technicity, and accumulation of knowledge and publications in our fields, we also often develop a very narrow and highly technical expertise as our career progresses. This is true in […]

    Continue reading

  • Why research

    A few years ago, while I was already thinking about a career change in the direction of environmentally-oriented jobs, I regularly asked myself: should I leave research too? After all, there are many ways in life to a) feel more part of nature b) be useful in an ecological or environmental context. Fundamental research is […]

    Continue reading

  • Full circle: of forests, connections to nature & flows

    I was at the SETE in Moulis last Thursday to attend a special seminar on old Pyrenean forests given by Philippe Falbet, a member of the NGO “Observatoire des Forêts des Pyrénées Centrales – Nature en Occitanie”. Old forests, in his definition, are not just “ancient”: they must have been untouched by humans for more […]

    Continue reading

  • Moulis, Ariège

    Those following my personal account on Mastodon (if not, you can do so by clicking the elephant icon at the top left of your screen) have already been teased earlier this week that I have found a new, exciting workplace to get into ecological research: the Station d’Ecology Theorique et Experimentale (SETE) in Moulis, Ariège. […]

    Continue reading

  • From scratch – the origins of a transition

    Greetings everyone ! My name is François Rincon, I am a theoretical physicist working in France at CNRS. I have spent the first 20 years of my career doing research on nonlinear astrophysical fluid, plasma and magnetic-field dynamics in astrophysical systems spanning many scales, ranging from the Sun, to protoplanetary accretion disks, to clusters of […]

    Continue reading

FEDI FOLLOW

ARCHIVES

May 2024
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

LATEST COMMENTS

  1. @Francois … so I'm working back through the story, and ran across this: " it is surprisingly in tune with…

  2. @Francois Is it to say that it is *just* a gentleman's hobby funded by the sweat of the poor? Not…

  3. @Francois Interesting and I think, much more universal and timeless than "just" about the scientist and the current climate crisis.I'm…

  4. @jaztrophysicist #mustRead @antoinechambertloir @Francois