Data and MATLAB Code of “Combining orbital tuning and direct dating approaches to age-depth model development for Chew Bahir, Ethiopia” (Trauth et al., QSA 2024)

Here you find the data and MATLAB code and data of our paper “Combining orbital tuning and direct dating approaches to age-depth model development for Chew Bahir, Ethiopia” published in Quaternary Science Advances.

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Using Scholar AI to Synthetize Scientific Literature

Since the release of ChatGPT by OpenAI and subsequently numerous other AI-based tools, we as scientists have been both fascinated by the possibilities but also see the risks associated with the use of these tools in research and teaching. In this context, Scholar AI is offered as a tool that helps us to summarise extensive literature on a subject area. Here is the result of an experiment I did this morning.

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Counting Flamingos with MATLAB

Here is a nice application of the script from MRES to count sand grains in microscopic images. In September 2013 a biologist from the National Museums of Kenya joint us on an expedition to the Suguta Valley in the Northern Kenya Rift. At that time hundreds of thousands of lesser flamingos left the Central Kenia Rift, especially from the Nakuru basin, and went to the Suguta Valley. The biologist started to count the flamingos, while I immediately thought about doing this automatically with a little MATLAB script.

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Response to a critical review on Amazon by Peter Jansson: Missing Methods in Python Book

I received a negative review on Amazon. That’s always a bad thing, whether or not it is justified (see this older example).  As Amazon no longer allows a reply, I’m posting it here, because other readers are probably also bothered by the way the first edition of the Python book dealt with missing subchapters and illustrations compared to the MATLAB book. And there is good news, in the second edition we have solved the problem!

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New Paper on “Early warning signals of the termination of the African Humid Period(s)” Published in Nature Communications

We published a new paper on early warning signals of the termination of the African Humid Period(s) in the journal Nature Communications. A very close look at the sediments of the Chew Bahir Basin in South Ethiopia provides new insights into the structure of climate transitions in Africa. Wet climate did not simply become drier; it flickered rapidly between wet and dry, which posed major challenges for the humans in the region. Continue reading “New Paper on “Early warning signals of the termination of the African Humid Period(s)” Published in Nature Communications”