137 search results for: Oliver Kuhn
Science Break: Skin Colour
…Without too much thought a person would conclude that human skin colour tends to be darker in populations originating near the equator, and increasingly lighter as one moves into higher latitudes. But why is that? How to explain exceptions to this general rule, such as the darker skinned Inuit? And…
Science Break: Singing Sand Dunes
…“Marvelous indeed and almost passing belief are the stories related of these spirits of the desert, which are said at times to fill the air with the sounds of all kinds...” (The Travels of Marco Polo, Book I, Chapter 36) Singing sand dunes have been known of presumably since time…
Science Break: Polynesian Navigation
…Think of the world’s great civilizations – the Egyptians, the Romans, the Chinese, the Greeks... how about the Polynesians? Not at the top of most people’s list, yet the Polynesians (I use the term in a general sense to encompass the Polynesians, Melanesians, Micronesians and all the other categories given…
Science Break: The Physics of Golf
…With golf season upon us, it seems like a perfect time to look at some of the physics behind golf. This is a well understood and extensively covered topic, probably because there are so many golfers, and the game is just so darn confounding, confusing and challenging. Many, many interesting…
Science Break: The Spokane Flood
…The Spokane Flood would have occurred about 14,000 years ago, towards the end of the last ice age. Simply put, an ice dam at the southern edge of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet blocked the Clark Fork River, creating a huge glacial lake in the vicinity of Missoula, Montana (Fig. 1).…
Science Break: Disfluencies and Discourse Markers
…Overview Leading edge research by psycholinguists suggests that words and sounds generally considered inappropriate to speech (um, ah, like, you know, etc.) are in fact useful and facilitate effective communication in many instances. It should be noted that all experts do not accept these findings. These words and sounds are…
Science Break: Parasitoids
…There is a subtle, but morbidly fascinating distinction between a parasite and a parasitoid. The latter always kills its host while the former usually does not. Some 10% of insects are parasitoid, perhaps even more, predominantly wasps and flies. I first became aware of parasitoids when I saw a wasp,…
Executive Message
…My year as past President has gone by quickly. My duties and responsibilities were less than the two previous years, but as an active member of the Executive I have of course been involved on a number of fronts. For this column, in many ways the swan song of my…
Presidential Column
…One CSEG committee that most people are unaware of, but that plays an important role in the society’s functions, is the Presidents Advisory Council, or PAC. This body is made up of the last 11 years’ CSEG Presidents, meets on a regular basis, and as you might have guessed, acts…
Presidential Column
…In these last few days before Christmas, as I’m struggling to think of anything interesting to write about, summarizing highlights of the CSEG’s activities in 2006 springs to mind. In TV sitcoms, when they resort to retrospective episodes, you know the time has come for the series to be yanked…
Presidential Column
…In mid-November I represented the CSEG at the semi-annual Canadian Geoscience Council (CGC) meetings, held this time in Québec City, so my comments this month will relate to the CGC. The CGC has tried to be an effective umbrella organization for the earth sciences at the national level, but in…
Presidential Column
…In early October I attended the SEG annual convention in New Orleans. In addition to the usual activities such as attending technical talks and checking out what was new on the exhibit floor, in my capacity as CSEG President I also attended the annual SEG Council Meeting, essentially its AGM.…
Presidential Column
…Recent events have signaled the end of an era in the Canadian seismic industry. First, in May of this year, Geo-X Systems Ltd. sold its processing division to Divestco Inc. Then in early September came the announcement that CGG would be purchasing Veritas DGC. To many, these two companies represented…
Presidential Column
…I’m writing this column mid-summer, and it seems an appropriate time to give an update on the CSEG’s activities so far this year. Let’s start with the convention. In many ways this year was a test, to see if the two societies (CSEG and CSPG) could host a joint convention…
Presidential Column
…My column this month is devoted to the Canadian Geoscience Council (CGC). It’s a big topic, and I have found it hard to distill down to essential points; it’s also by nature a somewhat boring topic, but I’ve done my best to make it readable. In brief point form, here…
Presidential Column
…This month I’ll drop the sanctimonious tone of last month’s column, and tackle a relatively safe topic. It has been my observation that the CSEG has not been very good at documenting and archiving its affairs. Some societies can go overboard in that respect, but believe me, the CSEG runs…
Presidential Column
…Satinder Chopra and I have come up with a new idea for the RECORDER: this monthly Presidential column. We’d like to see if the membership gets some value from a brief column featuring my opinions or observations on a particular topic. I’ve enjoyed the Executive Message columns, especially their biographical…
