Co-existing with Cretean creatures on island hikes
Time for a holiday. When bad sleep and nightmares haunt, work becomes overwhelming, and productivity dwindles, it's clear signs of an empty battery. I am grateful for the opportunity to…
How diverse is the soil life across Europe?
On grasping soil biodiversity through DNA analysis or a little discourse into my PhD work (the struggle is real putting three years of research into a little blog article). The…
On soil sampling in Galicia
I work as a soil ecologist on a project aiming to assess the life in the soil around Europe (SOB4ES). In the first years, we mostly take soil samples to…
The operators of life
There is a world beyond ours A world, diverse beyond imagination A world that tidies up that recycles that nourishes A world in the dark that turns death into life…
The imperfect scientist
About my access to academia and why we need to accept that the concept of a perfect scientist is a fallacy, far from reality, creating wrong expectations. I am sharing…
On goats munching on Argan trees when in Marocco
Last autumn, at the end of my PhD, I made use of the freedom that brought the time just before my defense. I was able to finish last needed tasks…
The Galician queen sows on 2m of food residues
Closing the loop: Animal and vegetable farming can still be combined - a Galician lighthouse farm Somewhere between A Coruña and Santiago, in the deep green heart of Galicia, there…
Black Forest’s fascinating fungi and the buscavida berry
The ultimate buscavida berry (bon vivant, in German "Lebenskünstler") You belong to no one; you grow where you please. Your determination to thrive anywhere is unstoppable; you are nearly impossible…
Adventures around the agaves on Gran Canaria
After spending a month on La Palma, it was time for me to move on. The viewpoints there seemed a bit limited; I'm not sure if there's a correlation with…
The fire island: Mango treasures and the loss of beautiful pines
La Palma and its treasures The patience-teaching silent-retreat ferry Why book an expensive room when you have a good sleeping bag and mattress? Just bring your sleeping mask; it was…
Sprint for life: escaping an avalanche
While most of my articles are more on life around me, this article is on the life in me. So often, I forget about this ongoing process, this force without…
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Greying out: the whispering of the vanishing glaciers
You enabled life on the edge, you created one of the most vulnerable ecosystems with niches adapted to a rough life up in great heights. But these life communities are…
Stopping the belowground cancel-culture
Why is this plant or tree not growing? Is there a quick-fix that solves the problem? Can some numbers solve the riddle? Phosphorus is missing, phosphorus is added. Is it…
On safeguarding toads across the road
My PhD brought me not only to Spain but also to Italy through a 2-year stay at the European Commission's research center at the Lago Maggiore. The resesarch centre there…
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Mourning the dying olive trees in Puglia
When woofing in Puglia harvesting olives, meeting farmers loosing their family heritage, loosing their beloved trees to Xylella, a bacterial pathogen fast spreading in the South of Italy since 2013.…