@helenczerski@fediscience.org
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

helenczerski

@helenczerski@fediscience.org

Physics, bubbles, oceans, hot chocolate and curiosity. Associate Professor at UCL, writer, broadcaster. Author of Storm in a Teacup: http://helenczerski.net/books-writing/ and Blue Machine (out June 1st, 2023) https://www.waterstones.com/book/blue-machine/helen-czerski/9781911709107 #fedi22 #physics #ocean #climate #bikes

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helenczerski, to Podcast
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Yesterday I was in Westminster Hall, which has the largest medieval timber roof in Northern Europe. It's ~600 years old, & storing carbon for all that time.

Tomorrow on Rare Earth, we'll be asking whether building more with wood is a vital part of a better future: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vslz

helenczerski,
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

@MikeHar94962844 actually, not really. It chars on the outside rather than burns. And engineered wood is even less flammable.

helenczerski, to Podcasts
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

A while ago I sat down (virtually) with Charles DuHigg to discuss his new book Supercommunicators, which explores the idea that maybe we're sometimes not very good at communicating and asks how we can do better. The IQ2 podcast is now available now:

https://www.intelligencesquared.com/intelligence-squared-podcast/

helenczerski, to nuclear
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

And for anyone who still thinks that nuclear power is automatically the best way to a low-carbon future, I encourage you to read the brilliant description of what happens to nuclear waste in Wasteland by Oliver Franklin-Wallis and consider whether it really is worth it.

Also read the rest of the book - it's essential stuff for understanding the modern world.

helenczerski, to books
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

I've been meaning to post this pair of books for a while. They complement each other perfectly with everything you need to know about the material world - both where it comes from and where it goes to. Both great, but the combination is even better. They're both brilliantly written & a joy to read (well, from a writing perspective - the message isn't always comfortable).

helenczerski, to science
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

This week's episode of Rare Earth is all about waste - can we live without it? 🧪

Broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 12 (8 minutes from now!) or available on iPlayer afterwards:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vlhf

helenczerski, to london
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

Big news for Londoners: even more Santander e-bikes, and a day pass to make access easier. It's all starting on Sunday March 3rd.

I cannot emphasize how much of a game-changer these e-bikes are for transport in London. Give them a go - I can pretty much promise you'll never look back.

https://london-post.co.uk/1400-new-e-bikes-and-a-new-day-pass-to-be-introduced-in-major-boost-to-londons-santander-cycles-scheme/

helenczerski, to cars
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

Is it time that we started fat-shaming unnecessarily large cars? Because it's ludicrous for this trend to continue - quite apart from the dangers, what a waste of materials, space and energy!

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/22/cars-growing-wider-europe-report?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

helenczerski, to worldwithoutus
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

If you were perchance wondering what's happening in Antarctica today, here's a live webcam from McMurdo station:

https://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/mcmwebcam.cfm?t=3&fbclid=IwAR0_fzAMhSR_9kN_lwl8m65QukyYGcf7RqHC729iT_GrjPZTwiyD2k_ByCk

It's the height of summer and -3C there... brrr. 🧪

helenczerski, to Podcasts
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

Just found this, all about how planned obsolescence came about (it really was planned, and enforced, early on). I'd never heard the term "psychological obsolescence" before either - us thinking things are old because there's a newer shinier one. And I love that they included the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and the Shoe Event Horizon at the end. Well worth a listen.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001tqj9

helenczerski, to science
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

TOMORROW is the day... Rare Earth, BBC Radio 4's new climate and environment show, will start on 12-1pm on Friday January 19th, co-hosted by me and the ace Tom Heap. The first show is all about whether we can best help nature by just leaving it alone.

You can listen on the radio or on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vbsp

helenczerski,
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

@phil_browne It's possible. I did record an interview with her during the research cruise we've just finished.

helenczerski, to random
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

That sad hungry plod around an Amerian airport, refusing to believe that not a single one of the food "outlets" serves any actual food (something that was once actually a vegetable or grain), with hope slowly draining away as the brightly coloured menus come and go.

"Industrially produced edible substance" was what Chris vT's Ultra-Processed People called it. It's not food. But what's depressing is that actual food isn't even an option here.

helenczerski,
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

@godzero I mostly am - lifelong strict vegetarian, 90% vegan now.

helenczerski, to science
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

Well, the picture at the top isn't one I sent them and completely mis-represents the situation (it was constantly stormy and there was no sea ice!), but here's the piece I wrote for the Observer about the five weeks I just spent on a research ship in the Labrador Sea with 21 colleagues, measuring air-sea gas transfer and the mechanisms behind it:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/07/ocean-breathing-climate-crisis-carbon-oxygen-helen-czerski-blue-machine

helenczerski, to ocean
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

Well that's depressing, if hardly surprising: hurricanes can pick up microplastics from the ocean surface (probably via seaspray from the violent ocean surface, and possibly also some from bubble bursting) and dump them back on land:

https://hakaimagazine.com/news/modern-hurricanes-have-a-surprise-ingredient/?omhide=true&utm_source=Hakai+Magazine+Weekly&utm_campaign=78fba25ef7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_06_COPY_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0fc1967411-78fba25ef7-121628661

helenczerski, to climate
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

An exciting new project for 2024 and beyond: RARE EARTH is coming soon: a new BBC Radio 4 climate and environment series hosted by me and the excellent Tom Heap. The first broadcast will be on January 19th.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2024/rare-earth-bbc-radio-four-new-environmental-series

helenczerski,
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

@rbos I hadn't spotted that, but I assume that someone tried to look and maybe missed it. Not ideal... but I guess we wouldn't be the first to use a popular title twice. Thanks for letting me know.

helenczerski, to science
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

It was great fun to talk to Steve Levitt for People I (Mostly) Admire, and here's the final programme:

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/exploring-physics-from-eggshells-to-oceans/

helenczerski, to science
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

Late in the UK day, but Happy New Year! I was on a research ship in the Labrador Sea for a big chunk of November & December, but I'm back on dry land now and so will be back on social media. And I have a sample of the ocean from 3500 metres depth as a souvenir.

helenczerski, to books
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

cough, if you're looking for Christmas presents, do consider Blue Machine.

"An absolutely beautiful book, exquisitely written and opening up a whole new world of information about our oceans."

https://www.lovereading.co.uk/book/9781911709107/isbn/Blue-Machine-by-Helen-Czerski.html

Also an FT and Times science book of the year.

davidho, to random
@davidho@mastodon.world avatar

We don't know what air-sea gas exchange is at high wind speeds not because we don't encounter those conditions but because it's currently impossible to deploy a CTD/rosette at those sea states.

We gotta figure out how to sample in these conditions.

Screenshot of a weather monitoring interface showing various readings such as air pressure, relative humidity, air temperature, water temperature, wind speed and direction, and radiation levels. The absolute wind speed reading is circled in red and is 31.5 m/s

helenczerski,
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

@davidho Err...that's what that mast is for on the front of the ship, right? We do have eddy covariance data in 28 m/s, nearly as high as this!

helenczerski, to science
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

I wrote a column on the physics of corrugated cardboard (https://www.wsj.com/science/how-can-cardboard-be-so-strong-ee3071ca , paywalled, sorry), & I just got an e-mail from someone in the "corrugated packaging industry" telling me there's no such thing as cardboard.

I think there are lots of cats happily ensconced in boxes who would disagree.

helenczerski,
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

@chrissie_c I bet they already know. They’re very well-educated about these things 🙂

helenczerski, to science
@helenczerski@fediscience.org avatar

Still on the research ship, and not posting about it here because of ship rules, but here's my bubble buoy on deck yesterday, just before it went over the side to measure lots of lovely bubbles in fairly horrid stormy seas.

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