Introduction on Bruno Sánchez-Andrade Nuño

From numbers in the computer screen to mud on your toes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Even before finishing my PhD I had doubts. I loved science, but somehow academia felt less interesting. For most people, myself included back then, science and academia refer to the same concept. You do science working either on basic research or applied research, which mostly correlates respectively with either creating new knowledge within publicly funded institutions or finding applications of the new knowledge at the private sector. That is it. My neck of the woods was basic research. PhD in solar physics at one of the highest regarded institutions in the world, the Max Planck. The message there was clear: here we make top researchers. I still remember the “Career Day” PowerPoint presentation at one of the retreats where the narrative was that only the best get to stay in academia, while saying that staying in academia is the highest goal for scientists: If Option A wasn’t working, option B was far below in status and not really an option, but something for those failing option A to consider.

On Covid-19 and Impact Science

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

As of late 2022 when I’m adding this section, our world is still heavily influenced by this health pandemic. We seem to have passed the worst[i], but it also seems too early to draw conclusions. We still do not know the long-term direct and indirect effects of the pandemic. E.g. whether the virus affects long after infection, why some people have symptoms much longer, what is the impact of delayed diagnosis of other conditions due to the healthcare congestion, or what is the physical, mental and social effect of a population mostly isolated for long periods of time.

What Bhutan Nuts and NASA Rockets have in Common

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In the spring of 2017, I was living in Bhutan, a small remote country enclaved between two giants, China and India. I remember traveling from the closest airport, in Jakar, to the village I was living in, Lignmethan. It is an entire day driving up and down, valleys and mountains passing by, through the “highway”—a mostly unpaved two-lane road with no markings, largely no safety rails on the sides, and boulders and road bumps requiring excellent driving skills to navigate. It is such an incredibly beautiful landscape, and literally one of the most remote places on Earth, due to limited visa permits and long travel times.