A year in a geodiversity hotspot

Currently there is raised awareness that in addition to biodiversity, there is a thing called geodiversity. Biodiversity means the diversity of biological organisms and geodiversity consequently means the diversity of geological and geomorphological formations and materials. One of the best places in the world to experience geodiversity of glacial origin is the Rokua area, located…

Happy 101st Independence Day, Finland!

Today, December 6th, we are celebrating Finland’s 101st Independence Day. Did you know that Finland was the second country in the world, and first in Europe, to give women the right to vote? New Zealand was the first one. OK…Australia kind of was the second one, but they only gave the right to a certain…

Mutation taking a bloody color

There’s no evolution without mutations. Mutations happen in nature (in people, too) all the time. Usually you cannot really see it with your bare eyes if a mutation has taken place, but sometimes the outcomes of mutations are clearly visible. A fine example of a visible mutation is the red-leaved downy birch (Betula pubescens f….

Ni hao from China

Dear reader, it’s me, Annika. I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while now, but today I actually found some time to do it (needed a small break from R). So. I started as a postdoc in China in May. What a change in surroundings, culture, climate, and all! Wow… But I’ve managed…

SIL2018, we made it!

SIL2018 is now over! What a fun week it was! For those of you who might not know, SIL stands for International Society of Limnology (Capital Letters in weird order, yes). So this time the SIL congress was in Nanjing, China. We (i.e. Annika, and my fellow congress mates) enjoyed some great hospitality shown by our Chinese host…