Nothing is impossible– learning Deutsch
If you have been to a foreign country where the official language is not your tongue, then you must relate with the frustrations that come with it. Pointing at food on menus because you cannot pronounce names, staying glued at the train’s screen because taking your eyes off for a second could mean you missing your destination? That was me for a few days last week. Finally, the language is no longer so foreign! I can relate when some words are mentioned away from class. I light up when familiar words are mentioned! And yes, I can also count a few numbers – a seemingly insurmountable problem last week. Interestingly, Germans count from left to right. And just like French it has feminine and masculine nouns.
A Bridge to Africa
Germany’s “Marshall Plan for Africa” to boost Agenda-2063
Six of the World’s ten fastest growing economies are in Africa. The continent has been growing at an average of 5 percent per annum for over a decade, despite the global financial and economic crisis. This makes Africa confident that it can achieve its ambitious development dream, dubbed Agenda-2063 within 50 or even fewer years according to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the former Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AU).
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My Berlin Experience
I am here with a team of outgoing, enthusiastic and tenacious journalists from South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Germany. Together we took a fantastic hour-long boat cruise along the Spree River passing through the house of the World's Cultures, the Government Quarter, the Berlin Cathedral, and the Museum Island among the Bode Museum.
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My Little Sun
Did you know that about one billion people mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia live without electricity? This is according to the latest World Bank estimates. Currently, about 640 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa have no access to electricity. By 2040, it is estimated that Africa will require 700gigawatts of power to meet its demand. This is seven times more than what is currently installed.
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A little glimpse into who is Sophie Mbugua
As a journalist, I am used to asking questions, getting answers and writing about other people, events and occurrences. Rarely do I speak about myself and my work. It happened that for about six years while I was working as a radio technician and creative producer, I was used to being behind the scenes and making sure everything runs smoothly. So today, I am taking the challenge to tell you a little bit about myself.
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A warm welcome to Sophia Mbugua
Forschungszentrum proudly presents Sophia Mbugua, the winner of our journalistic scholarship!
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Berlin is always worth a trip!
Of course, this is especially true if you receive a prize for international research marketing from the General Secretary of the German Research Foundation (DFG)! Representing Forschungszentrum Jülich and the entire PASCAL team, Prof. Harry Vereecken and I accepted the award. Here are some impressions from the award ceremony at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in Berlin.
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Where we work
We really enjoy the work on PASCAL, as you may have recognized when following this blog. Besides this project, each of us has a lot of other responsibilities we deal with every day. Please enjoy reading the following lines to learn about the tasks each team member is responsible for and to get an insight into the great working environment Forschungszentrum Jülich provides.
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Here we are: "supercomputer" and notebooks arrived
Our guest blogger Klaus Görgen is an expert for supercomputing in geosciences, regional climate and coupled modelling, and the water cycle. Within PASCAL, Klaus participates in conceptualisation of the HPC training, IT system planning, supervision and testing of software, and installation of numerical models. Here he writes about an important day for the project: the arrival of the workstation, that mimics the supercomputer, and the notebooks.
Zweikommazwei
Peter Grünberg (1939 - 2018) - Condolence Book
Forschungszentrum Jülich is mourning the passing of Professor Peter Grünberg. The Nobel laureate in physics and scientist of Forschungszentrum Jülich passed away last week in Jülich at the age of 78. We would like to give you the opportunity to share your memories of Peter Grünberg and to offer your condolences on this page.
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Good news!
As I reported earlier this year, we were not quite sure whether our idea to offer a journalistic scholarship would work out. Meanwhile we have received about 25 interesting applications and we are optimistic that there is more to come. That’s good news. Thanks to our supporters out there, the call obviously has found its way to the people we would like to address.
Zweikommazwei
Brain research: “We want to show the whole picture.”
Seeing doesn’t necessarily mean understanding. This brief notion is perhaps the best way of describing the problem that drives many researchers in the field of neuroscience. When imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging emerged in the 1990s, it appeared to be just a matter of time until we understood how speech is processed, sentences formed, and recollections stored in our short- and long-term memories. However, the current estimations of many scientists paint a much more sober picture. To date, hardly any concept from the fields of psychology, philosophy, or sociology can be clearly assigned to biological processes and structures in the brain.
DocBlog
It's time to say goodbye ... and welcome
In November, we, the doctoral researchers, again elected two new spokespersons who will represent us in several committees for the next year. This means it is time to say goodbye and thank you, but also welcome and good luck! As usual I would like to introduce the new speakers to you or let’s say let them introduce themselves to you. Afterwards I will give you a short overview of the things that are went on in the last months. Before we start with our Newbies, I’d like to mention that this time all our candidates for speakers were internationals, which is a first :) So I am really happy to introduce you to…
DocBlog
Transferable Skills Subgroup
In April 2017, the first phase of the development process of the Doctoral Researcher and Scientific Advisor Platform (short DocPlatform) has ended. All the results gained in this phase were presented to the project board in May. Getting a very positive feedback there, a final meeting with all the participants of phase one was held at which everyone could inform him/herself about the work done in the other subgroups. This was also the start of the second phase, in which the following target processes shall be acquired: E-recruiting of Docs Identification and registration of all Docs Central monitoring of all Docs Transferable-skills curriculum In this article, I will tell you some more details about the transferable skills subgroup and what it achieved.
Zweikommazwei
Ozone Researchers Meet up at Jülich
Be it in its role as a natural UV absorbent, climate gas, or health factor – the ozone concentration in the atmosphere is of interest to society for various reasons. For decades, global measuring programmes have investigated how the ozone content changes due to human influence. Ozone sondes attached to weather balloons, which can reach altitudes of 35 km, are still an indispensable source of data. Forschungszentrum Jülich plays an important role in this context: since 1996, it has been running the World Calibration Center for Ozone Sondes (WCCOS). In early November, calibration measurements for the NASA-headed SHADOZ network took place here.
Climate Research Taking Off
Ophelia, my darling! Volume no. 2
As you know, ex-hurricane Ophelia arrived on Monday to Ireland. Following the advise of the Irish meteorological service, we stayed at home, but... we didn't have electricity nor water! Want to know what we did? Keep reading and you may find delicious surprises!
