(September 21, 2018) One of the reasons that I like fieldwork is that it always involves learning new skills, and often these are obscure skills that I never expected I would need in my career as a biologist. As an example, this summer I found myself sitting on a grassy riverbank near the shores of James Bay, wearing my full rain gear on a sunny day as protection against the relentless blackflies, learning to splice rope. Splicing rope involves braiding strands of rope together to join two ropes or to form a loop at...

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