Anyone that knows me in real life will know that I’m I hate mess. I hate wires that tangle everything up in my flat, creating impenetrable black and off-white thickets. I hated my old office mate leaving his fieldwork kit strewn all across the office, grass festering away on the edges of his quadrat. I hate my sister’s inability to cook without the whole kitchen descending into culinary chaos. In summary, I hate mess.*
So it was with some concern that I saw the recent TED talk by Tim Harford, talking about how messiness can improve problem-solving flash up on my twitter feed. I clicked the link, despairing that I might have to scatter papers all over my desk in an effort to become a better scientist. Thankfully, that wasn’t what happened. Harford actually says that putting constraints or introducing randomness into how you solve problems can mean you produce better solutions. It’s very TED-y, linking disparate ideas from music and science, but I think Harford has something. Give it a look.
Something else that grabbed my attention this week was a paper which used Google Street View to build up a picture of where a plant species in Spain can be found. I like papers like this that just blow my mind. I would never have thought differently enough to come up with this idea.
I love using ggplot for analysis in R but up until know I have had to use a different package to do my diagnostic plots for models. Thankfully, now this has been solved with the ggfortify package so you never need to use ugly base R plots again….
And finally, if you are an early career researcher in the UK you might be interested in a joint BES & ZSL meeting aimed at helping you establish a career in conservation. Check it out, it has great speakers and I’m sure it will be as good as all other BES meetings I’ve been to.
* I do however, love all of the people I mention here. Even if I don’t like the mess you cause.
Ecology for a Crowded Planet 