Short post today. I just returned to Germany from a flash visit to the Netherlands, where Heike had a bachelorette party on Saturday, and I had a bachelor party today. Unrelated weddings. I never ‘got’ what bachelor parties were about. Most seem to be a way to embarrass the groom to be. In this case,Continue reading “Flash visit”
Author Archives: Robin Heinen
When the green multiplies
Roughly eight months per year, I’m just waiting. It’s dark outside, so it’s even darker inside. I’m waiting for the first rays of spring sunlight, for the days to become longer, for my plants to enter beast mode. Spring is the time of growth, and those four precious months where something finally happens are amazing.Continue reading “When the green multiplies”
No more excuses
Writing a book is something that has always ranked pretty high on my lifetime achievement list. Maybe this is one of the reasons why I was so proud when I published my PhD dissertation. (Or maybe it was because it’s a great achievement on many other levels.) No matter how awesome it felt, (perhaps obviously)Continue reading “No more excuses”
Alarming insect declines
Over the course of the past five years, many scientific papers have been written about insect declines – some simply reporting patterns in observational data, while others have adopted rigorous monitoring combined with measurements of potential factors contributing to shifts in insect diversity and abundance. There are debates ongoing between entomologists and conservationists as toContinue reading “Alarming insect declines”
Plant talk
I just finished a 3.5 hour drive this evening, to the university town of Jena, where we are currently running a tansy chemodiversity field experiment alongside the bigger, older, boringly named, yet much better-known ‘Jena Experiment’. Briefly I considered spending the night in Lederhose, just so I could tell people I slept in Lederhose. AsContinue reading “Plant talk”
Booooring!
It was just before 11pm on a dark October Saturday night. I sat at a computer placed on a tiny wobbly desk in the middle of the huge factory hall. To my right there was a large packaging conveyor belt line, connected to a large boxing robot. To the left, a smaller line that onlyContinue reading “Booooring!”
The transition
When you become a parent, you will go through a transition, and this is not a transition by choice. It’s a transition that just happens more or less naturally. Once you have kids, hanging out with the people without kids suddenly becomes a different thing. Your childless friends don’t understand you, and while you stillContinue reading “The transition”
Epic wins
This day is an epic win. We accidentally timed our day trip – to a zoo playground adventure thing, but fun if you’re wondering – just right. We had about an hour’s drive ahead of us, fed the kids underway, and figured we could bring them to bed right upon arrival at home. It couldn’tContinue reading “Epic wins”
Freedom
I love weekends. Who doesn’t, anyway. Well, also me. Or so it turns out. On weekends, I am always stoked to go out and pack the van and stay wherever we want to go. It hardly even matters where. Anywhere. As long as it’s not at home. We usually do exactly that. It’s the soleContinue reading “Freedom”
Pigs
I live my life in a dream world. It’s not a perfect world, but at least a world where everything is safe, and everyone can be wherever they want to be without a second thought. Today that dream was shattered by some news I got. It’s a hallucination, something that doesn’t exist. Or, at best,Continue reading “Pigs”