Recent Content
Guns and Numbers
posted on 2019-04-29
A couple of days ago, a friend of mine pointed out an article on gun control to me, which made the following claim: “Armed citizens are successful 94% of the time at active shooter events”. Written by a firearms training company, it analyses shoot-outs in the United States between 2000 and 2017. Basically, it says that armed citizens are highly effective at stopping shootings (and therefore, that more citizens ought to be armed). Having been asked to fact-check the article, here is what I think.
more...Mechanistic Modelling in Ecology
posted on 2019-04-22
Few words in science are as imprecise as the term “modelling”. It is a term applied to a whole range of techniques, which often have nothing at all in common. Small wonder, then, that many of my ecologist colleagues don't know what I mean when I say that I am doing “mechanistic modelling”. This is an attempt to clear up that misunderstanding, and to explain where ecological modellers like myself fit into the wider landscape of ecological research.
more...Basic Traffic Analysis with Unix
posted on 2019-04-15
So you want to know how many people visit your website, but don't want to set up Google Analytics or anything like that? That at least was the situation I found myself in when I started this blog. Turns out, if you just want a daily number of visitors, standard Unix tools are perfectly sufficient.
more...Project Ecologia
posted on 2019-04-08
Six years ago, I was looking for a new programming project. My dream was to create a self-sustaining “virtual world”, a little ecosystem inside my computer. This was long before I knew there actually was a field called “ecological modelling” (which I now happen to work in), but the idea intrigued me. So I set about the task with all the confidence of one year's programming experience. I failed. But a year later, I picked up the pieces and started over, eventually producing a graphical ecosystem simulator – Ecologia.
more...The Genius of Terry Pratchett
posted on 2019-04-01
So I've just finished reading another Discworld book, and once again I am struck by the amazing versatility of its author, Terry Pratchett. With rare skill, he manages to make you laugh and think and cry, all at the same time. It's as if he simultaneously touches your heart, your mind, and your vocal chords. I don't read many novels these days, but I happily make exceptions for his. How does he manage that?
more...Communicating Science
posted on 2019-03-25
“What can we do to communicate our research to the public?” This was the question for a discussion session with some of my colleagues last week. Many scientists see the need for this kind of communication, but few know how to go about it, and even fewer actively do it. After all, how do you explain your work on, say, a channel protein of the Venus Flytrap to your neighbour, and why should he bother listening? It is a challenge. But believing that it's worth the effort to try, here are some general principles we found.
more...The Monday Challenge
posted on 2019-03-19
Yesterday, a friend of mine impressed upon me the importance of “showing up regularly”. We were just discussing another friend's plan to launch a podcast and were talking about how to become visible on the web. “You have to show up”, he said, “no matter how rubbish you may feel that day – your audience has to know you will be there. It's not important whether your schedule is daily, weekly, or monthly, but you have to stick to it.” Pretty challenging words, I thought, but perhaps just the advice I needed to hear. So here is the Monday Challenge.
more...Die Freuden der Vogelbeobachtung
posted on 2019-03-16
In meinem Bachelorstudium habe ich einen Freund kennengelernt, der begeisterter Ornithologe ist. Nach Vorlesungen brach er oft mit seinem Fernglas und einem Notizbuch zu Vogelspaziergängen auf und war bald im ganzen Lehrstuhl als unser Vogelexperte bekannt. Ich fand das immer ziemlich cool, konnte es aber nie so ganz verstehen – was fand er nur an den Vögeln? Nun, vor ein paar Monaten hat mich der “Orni-Virus” auch infiziert. Und mittlerweile verstehe ich etwas besser, warum Vögel zu beobachten so viel Spaß macht.
more...Review: Becoming Michelle Obama
posted on 2019-03-04
Becoming is Michelle Obama's autobiography, begun soon after she and her family left the White House and proving an instant international bestseller after being published last year. The popularity is deserved: although her story is long, it is told with a warmth and openness that makes it an engaging and thought-provoking read. And that is before she even reaches the White House.
more...The National Park Game
posted on 2019-02-20
Last year the school I was teaching at organised a field trip to the Kafue National Park for our grade 9 students. It was a fantastic opportunity to have fun camping, enjoy time together as a class, and of course to marvel at the astounding nature and wildlife we have in Zambia. Accompanying the trip as the class' biology teacher, I thought about how to bring across the importance and challenges of conservation work in a park like this. In the end, I hit on the idea of a role-playing game: let the students step into the shoes of a (fictional) park's stake holders, and argue it out for themselves. Fourteen students in charge of developing a national park – what would they do?
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