In the Company of Volcanoes

- Guest blogger Dawn C.S. Ruth @rockdoc11 Keeping time with volcanoes Hi everyone. I’m neither Alison nor Janine. My name is Dawn C.S. Ruth and, like our fearless leaders, I also study volcanoes. However, where Alison uses experiments to delve deeper into volcanic processes, and Janine uses satellites to spy on volcanoes, I look at the minerals to see how magma moves and behaves before an eruption.

-Alison While I love volcanoes and doing science, I do try to spend some time doing other things. In fact, I am frequently reminded that the best thing a person can do for their own success at work is to have something else in their life that is NOT work, but still feels valuable to them. For any graduate students I would actually stress that this includes you. My activity that I do just for me is pottery. Which as a geologist isn't as separated from science as some might think. Science and art are not incompatible. Frankly I find them to be good friends. Where would we be if the early naturalists didn’t spend hours making amazing sketches of landscapes and animals? There would be several species that we know nothing about, or historical volcanic eruptions that changed the face of a mountain, but which part? If you are interested in science inspired art then Twitter has a hashtag for you # sciart . And if you are just into beautiful images of things from nature I would s...