Microscopes, Groundhogs and Tours: the BGS through the eyes of a newbie...by Grace Davis

Did you know that SEM stands for ‘scanning electron microscopy’ which allows scientists to take an incredibly close look at the composition of materials in a various formats (such as rock chips, polished thin sections and liquids)? The information SEM gives us can contribute towards mineral identification, textural analysis, fault rock studies, and much more.

I did not know this, unsurprisingly, but now I do! And so do 12 young people from the London International Youth Science Forum who joined us this Tuesday for a tour of the BGS. As one of the newer members of staff, I had the chance to accompany the students on the tour, serving as part route-guide and part extra member! The students, a mixture of young adults from around the world, were a pleasure to have with us and really engaged with the talks given by BGS scientists such as Dr Jeremy Rushton in the SEM lab and Dr Mike Howe who showed us around the National Geological Repository (aka the Core Store). (And I didn’t lose a single student so I’m marking it down as a big success.) We look forward to seeing you again next year, LIYSF!

SEM in action!

This week I continued to help with monitoring our social media accounts; the BGS is pretty active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so there’s always something going on! Our social media posts come from a combination of communications staff ferreting out interesting pieces of info, and submissions from the many scientists working on projects across the BGS. One of my favourite submissions this week was from the team who have developed a new version of the BGS Groundhog Desktop software. To the uninitiated (which I was until three days ago) this might sound a bit odd – what’s a groundhog doing at a desktop anyway? What this actually is, is a rather interesting piece of software that allows users to easily (and in the comfort of their own home) explore digital versions of geological features such as cross-sections, borehole logs and geological map linework. It’s free to use and we have a great YouTube tutorial on how to get started with it.  

I’ll back on the blog again next Friday but, until then, if you haven’t read my previous posts on being a BGS new starter you can check them out here, here and here!