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Publisert 2 kommentarer til Beautiful!
What happened in Paris on Friday is horrible.
I lived in Paris for seven months during my master studies, and today I have colleagues and friends there, and I go there quite often - either for "business", or just for vacation. The terror in Paris almost feels like terror "at home", and in many ways I still can't believe it happened.
I'm lucky all of my friends were safe. 
In all the sadness, I saw this beautiful film, with a little boy and his father having a conversation about the horrible events - see HERE (the picture is just a screenshot)
"Les méchants, c'est pas très gentil."


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Publisert 2 kommentarer til Facts on a Friday – Radiation

Hi Friday, and welcome weekend!

I've finally come back home to the Rose-castle, and I'm here with Anders, a glass of red wine, and candles, and it's time for Friday Facts again! Today I've figured I have to tell you a little bit about radiation:
  1. radiation is really "just" energy that travels 🙂
  2. this energy can either be waves, or it can be particles
  3. in my field, radiation is normally alpha, beta, or gamma (but it can be other things too)
  4. alpha radiation and beta radiation are both examples of particle radiation
  5. alpha particles (or alpha radiation) are just helium nuclei - 2 protons and 2 neutrons, that is, and beta particles (or beta radiation) are just electrons
  6. gamma radiation is sort of like a very very intense "light" - so, waves
  7. the kind of radiation I work with (the radiation that comes from radioactive stuff) is called ionizing radiation - meaning that this kind of radiation can ionize the material it goes through; that is, it makes the atoms in the material lose its electrons, and that's not so nice :/
  8. in Norwegian it's often called "radioactive radiation" (radioaktiv stråling), which is not really correct, since neither alphas, betas or gammas are radioactive themselves (but they normally come from something that is radioactive, so a better word, in my opinion, is just "radioactivity") - this is maybe a very small thing to nag about, but it has just become my thing 😉
  9. you could actually make radioactive radiation - a ray (or a beam, which is what we normally call it) of, for example uranium (uranium is radioactive), or it could be neutrons (yup, free neutrons are actually radioactive, with a half life of almost 11 minutes)
  10. other kinds of radiation is for example visible light, ultraviolet radiation (the stuff that gives you a tan when you're in the sun), or infrared radiation 😀
Another day I have to tell you the story about how the neutrino (which is also a kind of particle radiation) got its name - it's a super cute story <3, that I was told for the first time yesterday...but it'll have to be another day, because now I have a date with my man and some more wine and the latest episode of the Big Bang Theory.
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Totally not related, but I got this picture in a tweet yesterday - I'm actually in a book now (I think it's a Norwegian book for high schools):

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Publisert 2 kommentarer til I have a title!
One of the results from three very good days here at Soria Moria (except my article number 2 is actually really starting to look like something, and I've had some great discussions with Sunniva Supervisor; not only about this article, but also the next one - that I'm so eager to start at 😀 ) is that I actually got my self a working title of my thesis...! (OMG)
I don't dare share it with you guys just yet - I need to sort of "feel" it for a while... But it has words like uncertainties, modelling, thorium, nuclear, and reactor in it <3
It actually feels really good just have an actual title for your thesis document 😉
PS: I managed to reach my goal to get up and start quite early every day this week, but I must admit I'll have to spend some time during the weekend to get through all the rest of my goals. I think I'll manage, though 🙂
You guys have been great too - it's so cool to get snaps from all you hard-working, goal-chasing people! Go #teamsunnivarose <3

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til References, figures, and references

...and figures.

And tables!

FML.
No, I'm joking, obviously, but my arms and my back hurt, and my head feels like it weighs a ton. And my eyes are dry and sore. And I'm going back and forth with respect to how to best represent my data and my results - and what to put in this article, and what to put in the next article (and I do remember, very well, that I was accused of self plagiarism one and a half year ago, and I'm of course very scared that someone will accuse me of something like this again, unless I'm extremely careful...:/)
I guess this is #phdlife <3

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til Starting the day with some fusion
This day started with fusion: at 07:55 I was at NRK, to be a guest at P13, Tidenes Morgen, to talk about fusion. Right after this I spent an hour on the phone, talking to a journalist in Vårt Land, about fusion (and what is sacred to me, and what I ask for forgiveness for, and such). The reason for this was, not surprisingly, the new fusion reactor in Germany - the Stellarator called Wendelstein 7-X, where they want to recreate what happens at the sun; you know, let tiny nuclei melt together to form heavier nuclei and energy at the same time (sort of the  holy grail of nuclear physics/energy).
Of course: before any of this, the sun rose, it was a beautiful morning, and I could see and feel the energy from fusion from our nearest star <3 To me, every day is fusion day 🙂
The rest of the day has been spent on my article... I started the seminar with a great talk/discussion with Sunniva Supervisor, and then the rest of the day has actually been quite good. There's still a lot of work to do, but I'm positive 🙂 Now I just have to make my self a deadline for the different parts remaining to be done in this article, and then I just have to keep those deadlines, and then I'm done - and can continue with article number three and four, and then the actual thesis, and then I'm done. Easy 😛
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I must say: I love <3 getting your snaps - cool assignments, workout and chemistry, preparing for talks about colliding dark matter - love love love it! I really want to answer all of you, so let me say I'm so sorry if I don't manage!
Now it's nighty night here at Soria Moria; tomorrow I'm going to work A LOT (at least 7 hours, according to my plan form Monday) on the article. Sleep tight everyone!

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Publisert 4 kommentarer til I need your help – Join my team!
As I mentioned yesterday I would like to do a sort of let's motivate each other thing, where we could share pictures on Instagram (I'm @sunnivarose) or Snap (I'm sunnivarose) or Twitter (@sunnivarose here too) - anything to cheer each other up, and to be proud of our selves. Can we use social media to cheer each other up? I think we can, and it would be so much fun:
  • If you're early at the office (or wherever you're working or studying), well the tell us 🙂
  • If you've made your self a fresh cup of coffee before you're starting repeating for your exam, then tell us 🙂
  • If you feel like you're stupid, since "everyone else" understand this except you (which of course isn't true anyway, but whatever), but you're not giving up, tell us
  • If you're having a 12 hour day at the university (or office or wherever), share it!
  • If you just learnt something new, be proud and shout out 🙂
  • If you finished something, or started something, let us know!

To do this, we need a tag, and since I want you on my motivation team, the tag is #teamsunnivarose - join my team, I need your help!
Here are a couple of snaps that I've made during this day and yesterday:
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A little update on my plan this week so far:

Yesterday I was all up to date, and I was early at the office - as planned 😀
Today hasn't exactly been the same success: I did manage to be early at the office, but I was also supposed to write for three hours (only done 1), work on the Strength Function part of the uranium analysis (maybe even finish it), plot a lot of stuff, and discuss with Sunniva Supervisor (who is in CERN - which I didn't know when I made the plan yesterday, so that one isn't on me). Then this day just took a totally different turn, and I have almost done nothing...however, it's only Tuesday, and I'm quite confident I'll manage to get through my plan of the week by the end of the week - maybe this is where we can help each other...?
When it come to my writing goal this week, I'm certainly not giving up: I WILL DO 20 HOURS! Tomorrow I'm going on a writing seminar that lasts to Friday, so that's why I'm so positive 🙂 But before that I'm going on "Tidenes morgen" on P13, to talk about fusion...so now it's dinner with Anders, and the some nuclear fusion reading <3
Have a beautiful evening, and GO TEAM!

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Publisert 1 kommentar til Research plan of the week
Hello everyone, and hello Monday!
It's been a while since I shared my study/research plan of the week with you guys, but I was thinking maybe it's a good time to start again. As I was sort of saying yesterday, I'm starting to get nervous about finishing the PhD, feeling a little like I'm drowning in a hole, and I almost get dizzy from trying to just start somewhere... To solve this, I have to do (at least) two things, I believe: 

1) Plan my week (this will help me set goals, and check if I actually achieve them)
2) Get up early, and start working at the office early - every day(!)

I know "early" is sort of a relative term, but in academia, where almost nothing starts before 10:15, I think before 9 is early.
So this is what my (research) plan of the week looks like - there's a lot of focus on writing article number 2 now, as you can see 😉 Hopefully I can soon put this article a little bit behind me, and focus on newer stuff...
Goals: Be at the office before nine every day, and spend 20 hours on writing on that (stupid) second article. I don't know exactly where that will take me, but if I just manage to fulfill this writing goal, I will know by the end of this week, and hopefully then I can "see the light" again.
Anyone want to join me? Maybe we could do a sort of let's motivate each other kind of thing? I mean, I can't be the only one struggling with writing articles/PhD thesis/doing my research/preparing for an exam/Master thesis or whatever... Maybe we could even do a hashtag or something? I'm not exactly sure of what it could be yet, but I'm thinking 🙂
Anyway, wish you all a great start at the new week, and good luck with all your goals! The first thing I'm going to do now is to read through and then send off my current draft of article2 to Sunniva Supervisor - then I can already put the first "check" on my plan 😉
PS: I was at my office at 08:20 this morning - great start for me, so far...

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til OMG – it's real!?!
Last friday (a little bit more than one week ago) Theres successfully defended her PhD thesis 🙂

Two weeks before that she got the theme and title of her trial lecture - which is standard procedure; 14 days before the PhD defence you get a title for a trial lecture, that you are supposed to give on the morning of the day of your thesis defence. If you don't get this trial lecture approved, then you don't get to actually defend your thesis either - so it's kind of a big deal... 
Therese's title was "Nuclear uncertainties in the direct detection of dark matter" (or something like that).
This may seem a little funny or strange, but from that Friday when she got her trial lecture title it suddenly hit me, right in the stomach, that this is actually real: It's exactly 10 months to the date I'm planning to finish my thesis today and it doesn't feel all good. There is so much to do I almost feel a little dizzy - where do I start?
I think have to step up this game if I'm going to have any kind of chance of finishing my thesis by the end of 2016...

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Publisert 3 kommentarer til What I wore #1 Debattskolen

Since I wrote about what to wear as a female scientist I got all kinds of reactions: From those who thought this was way over the top, and that I have now "stretched my pink bubblegum too far", to those who didn't see any issues with this what so ever, to those who want to wear something (like dresses or high heels) but has actually been ridiculed for being too feminine, thus not serious enough.

Therefore I thought: why not write more about #whatiwore for different occasions where I have given a talk, or had some kind of "performance". Then those who were provoked about me writing seriously about how to dress can continue to be provoked, or just not read the blogpost; those who didn't think of this as an issue at all can do whatever they like; and those who actually think of this as an issue, and maybe want some inspiration can read the blogpost and hopefully be inspired 😉
First out is my outfit for Debattskolen last Wednesday (sorry it has taken me a week, but that's just life), where I was in a panel consisting of several bloggers - we were discussing blogging; why and how. Lots of fun, and very interesting to listen to the experiences of the other bloggers (Gunnar Tjomlid, Hans-Petter Nygård-Hansen, Maria Gjerpe, and Christoffer Hovde)!
I felt like being ultra feminine this day, and I was certain I had to wear either a dress or a skirt. I ended up with this yellow, high waisted skirt from H&M, and a knitted top from KOOKAÏ (love the length of the arms - perfect for occasions inside at this time of the year). The plan was to change into heels for the evening, and just wear the sneakers at the university during the day, but I ended up feeling the outfit was actually perfect with the all white sneakers this day - a little bit more towards cute and fun 😉

#foredragsoutfit
skirt: HM // tights: HM (200 denier - the best for everyday use!) // scarf: CMYK //watch: Apple // top: kookaï // sneakers: Nelly

Next question of the month will, by the way, be on the 15th of November. That's a Sunday, and I don't really like that so much, but I just found out that the 15th every month is a good date, and next time after that it will be on a weekday 🙂
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PS: I just gave my "10 reasons why I love <3 nuclear physics" talk, and this is a peek of my look today - I really like my hair like this (if I'm not nervous of not being taken ultra seriously; if that was the case I would have made a bun) 😀
my selfie got photobombed <3

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til Nerdy Baby!

I've translated a book! And written a preface! (Yes, I am yelling - in case you were wondering. I'm proud, that's why 😀 ) Prosjekt Baby, or the Human Infant Project!
a very very fresh Alexandra - ready to go home from the hospital (she's born in February, in Norway - therefore the woolen socks 😉 )

It's a baby book, written and illustrated by a fantastic artist - Tiffany Ard. This scrapbook is an alternative to all the pink and blue baby scrapbooks that are out there. The book is neutral when it comes to the sex of the baby, since the thoughts and feelings you have when you are expecting are more or less the same if you're having a boy or a girl. But most importantly it's pretty and funny and a little bit sciency 😉
I soooo wish I had had this book when I was expecting Alexandra. If I'm ever having another baby there's no question which book  will be used to save all kinds of memories from the pregnancy and the first years of the baby (from the very happy ones: the baby is amazing and I love him/her from the bottom of my heart, to the scientific: the top story in Nature is they've cured HIV and AIDS, to the not so happy: I slept five minutes this night, and am this close to throwing the f***ing  baby from the balcony)!

The book includes (quoted from Tiffany Ard's page about the book):
  • all the standard basic birth details
  • family background
  • anticipation! Whether you adopt or go through pregnancy or sit in the car while your husband steals a baby from rich people, the waiting is the hardest part...
  • parental sleep statistics
  • firsts - like bath, outing, babysitter, illness, toys, nicknames, smile, laugh, haircut, early physics experiments (which can include standing/walking/etc
  • favorite and least favorite things
  • motor reflexes (in motor reflexes bingo format)
  • height and weight chart
  • 1 year celebration
  • 3 year celabration
  • quotes by Neil deGrasse Tyson
  • beautiful drawings of cells (my words, not quoted by Tiffany)
  • place for handprints and footprints
  • spaces for attaching photos
  • several blank pages for any other details or keepsakes
  • plus much more...

Also, I think the Prosjekt Baby is so incredibly pretty, I can't believe it <3 (I know I already said that, but I just had to say it again.)

On Tiffany's Nerdy Baby page, it's also possible to buy books like Schrödinger's kitty and  Science Coloring Book (The World's Most Ridiculously Excellent); Alexandra will definitely get some of her christmas presents from Tiffany this year <3
LIKE Tiffany Ard and her Nerdy Baby Artwork HERE, buy the Human Infant Project HERE (English, original), or buy the Prosjekt Baby HERE (Norwegian, translated, and with my preface 🙂 )
<3 "a detailed lab report" <3