For a rainy day
Has global warming accelerated? Why? How much? How do we know? What does it all mean? etc. With hand-drawn illustrations, dodgy metaphors, and a complete lack of clear answers.
diagrammonkey.wordpress.com/2026/03/07/f...
Claude is not smarter.
ChatGPT says 3.9 < 3.11 and then goes on to explain why that is the case by showing that 3.11 < 3.9. Logic or just strings of seemingly logical words?
At least in the US, a key performance metric is grant money brought in. So if journals pay reviewers as discretionary research funds via universities, that will partially relieve that burden and give us more flexibility to do research, e.g., paying for things that can't be bought by grants.
...participate in the solution instead of leaving researchers to bear the burden. We're already stretched paper thin. Rewards are only fair.
...Universities can take a cut for handling payments. Better than nothing. And for journals, paying universities would be less of a burden than paying individuals because there are fewer payees to manage. A strained peer review system is a systemic issue. Journals and universities need to...
...and that money becomes the reviewer's discretionary research fund. In the US context, many researchers have visa restrictions on receiving payments not from their employers, but I'm sure anyone would appreciate having more discretionary research funds and free conferences / memberships...
I think financial incentives are important but it doesn't have to be paying the reviewer directly. For example, society journals can reward reviewers with free membership or free conference registration. Journals can also pay the reviewers' institutions...
It was great to see Dr. Katharine Hayhoe's talk on campus yesterday (@katharinehayhoe.com). She raised the message of hope, which is much needed in our time. Thank you.
Induction for the win!
As a tree ring scientist, I routinely fix dating problems, if you know what I mean.
It's so difficult to enter a different field. With today's rejection, I've tried 4 climate history and 4 archaeology proposals, all with excellent historians/archaeologists, but all unsuccessful. These discouraging experiences are telling me to stick to safe, single-field projects. But I'm stubborn.
Update: not funded. So the dream was bad omen :(
Last night I had a dream that my NSF proposal was funded. Then I woke up realizing it was a dream. But I grabbed my phone and logged in to research.gov to check anyway. And yep, still pending...
Maybe I'm thinking about this stuff way too much.
Last semester I taught a tree ring class, and I also partnered with the local forest preserve to do research & outreach. So putting 2 and 2 together, I took my class to a preserve site for field trip. It was a gorgeous fall day and we had so much fun! esec.illinois.edu/news/2025-12...
A student of mine asked our group to summarize #AGU25 in one word. For me it's HUGS. This year was tough for us scientists, and for some of us it was extremely tough. So it felt good to meet old friends and hugged it out.
Tube carriers, gather!
If you will be at AGU next week check out the following presentations from my lab group and UNR Geography.
Thursday, Heather Haines will present PP43D-1233 Arid zone dendrochronology of the widespread and ecologically critical Mulga tree
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Finally, we also contribute to Guleed Ali's talk on using subfossil wood to date the timing of ice sheet maximum for the Juan de Fuca lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Definitely check out Guleed's poster too! eppro01.ativ.me/appinfo.php?...
On Wednesday afternoon, I will wrap up with a new method of handling BI data. We identify several issues with using delta BI to correct for the heartwood-sapwood color change, and propose using change point detection and color correction as the way forward. eppro01.ativ.me/appinfo.php?...
On Wednesday morning, @rosie-oaks.bsky.social will present a streamflow reconstruction from blue intensity. BI has almost always been used for temperature reconstructions. This is the first ever streamflow reconstruction from BI. eppro01.ativ.me/appinfo.php?...
On Tuesday, Katieanne Peterson will share results from her investigation of how tree growth responds to dam removal. eppro01.ativ.me/appinfo.php?...
Aabhash Bhattarai will kick us off on Monday with a comparison of streamflow obtained from tree rings and from models for the Mekong River Basin. eppro01.ativ.me/appinfo.php?...
Here's the lineup of my group's presentations at #AGU25. Come meet with us!
Update: I contacted Holger Gärtner, a wood anatomist, and was told this is likely aphid impacts. I'm gonna look for an entomologist on campus! linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii...
Yeah our hypothesis is that it's a flood response since these trees are in a floodplain but I don't know the mechanism yet. It's not like they have traumatic resin ducts like conifers 🤔
Yes! We haven't dated the cores yet, just finished scanning. I'll let you know in a few weeks. This is an undergrad project looking at sliver maple in a floodplain.
Crowd sourcing from the Bluesky hive mind: what are these patches with what look like ducts inside that I'm seeing on silver maple? They don't occur in every ring, rather sporadically. @yellowbuckeye.bsky.social @l-tulipifera.bsky.social #dendro
Oh yes, I do this in my class too. Fun!
I am teaching a course on ancient trees and tree rings at the NY Botanical Garden on Sunday, October 26th and Sunday, November 2nd.
We will learn about past environments, the amazing lives of trees, and what old trees tend to look like.
Sign up at this link: www.enrole.com/nybg/jsp/ses...