Alexander Rauscher 🖇️

@rauschermri

MRI research, backcountry skiing, physics, neuroimaging; also interested in climate change and renewable energy, Professor at UBC in Vancouver, 1st generation academic, European from Austria

448 Siguiendo635 Seguidores1319 Publicaciones

Bluesky

¿Es tu perfil?Reclámalo y rauschermri.dirty.social es tuyo.Reclamar perfil

Alexander Rauscher 🖇️@rauschermri· 8d

A layer of smoke has moved in at about 1200 m and the temperature is 18 degrees instead of the projected 28. The sun is dim. The mild early stages of the climate catastrophe.

Vancouver north shore mountains with smoke.

Alexander Rauscher 🖇️@rauschermri· 9d

Vancouver winters are rainy but the summers are great. We had a few rainy days in July, which is good. We almost never get thunderstorms. The question is, whether forest fire smoke will find its way to the Lower Mainland.

Screenshot for ten day weather forecast. Sunny and 24 to 28 degrees.

Alexander Rauscher 🖇️@rauschermri· 11d

The sugar glider is a gliding possum. The eyes are far apart for better 3D vision (an advantage for gliding and landing in the forest) and enormous (the animal is nocturnal). They can glide ~100 m.

Close-up of a sugar glider (Australian small animal).

Alexander Rauscher 🖇️@rauschermri· 11d

Forest fire smoke over at least 100 km between Kelowna and Merritt.

Yellow smoke and a highway. The sun is visible but dim. Photo taken from inside the car.

Alexander Rauscher 🖇️@rauschermri· 12d

Me, after I get two grants funded within one week.

Alexander Rauscher 🖇️@rauschermri· 12d

Rattlesnake along the Kettle Valley Rail trail in southwestern British Columbia.

Rattlesnake, about 1.2 m long. Light brown and yellow.

Alexander Rauscher 🖇️@rauschermri· 13d

Tuscany for the poor. Penticton, British Columbia.

Alexander Rauscher 🖇️@rauschermri· Jul 11

Alexander Rauscher 🖇️@rauschermri· Jul 6

UBC Media Relations using MacGyver as a verb. 😀

Why study homing pigeons?

DA: Pigeons make a good model for research because they’re representative of many birds—their eyes are located on the sides of their head, giving them an almost panoramic view of the world. They’re also easy to work with, easy to train—and they fly home, so you don’t have to worry about losing them.

How did you MacGyver a system to track pigeon flight?

AL: I worked as a falconer before graduate school, so I was familiar with falconry hoods. I sewed many different sizes of hoods to hold the camera in place on the pigeon’s head, along with little backpacks for the rest of the equipment, and tried them on the pigeons until I found the perfect fit.

The system weighs just 27 grams and includes a miniature computer, about half the size of a credit card; a tiny modified commercial camera, a motion and orientation measurement unit and cables and electronics tape to reduce static during flight.

Alexander Rauscher 🖇️@rauschermri· Jul 1

Excellent Canadian music for Canada Day

Alexander Rauscher 🖇️@rauschermri· Jun 26

Climate change: With Gerald Lehner's permission, I am sharing his photos which he put on Facebook (follow him there for amazing photos). This is the Pasterze in the Austrian Alps over 5 years (2023, 2026, and the picture showing the beginning of the lake is from 2021). The summits are ~3500 m.

Alexander Rauscher 🖇️@rauschermri· Jun 22

Traffic rules along the Sea to Sky Trail in British Columbia.

A traffic sign saying cyclists should yield to pedestrians and bears and pedestrians should yield to bears.

Alexander Rauscher 🖇️@rauschermri· Jun 12

My idea of luxury. One commuter bike for wet weather (left) and one for dry weather (right). I never have to clean the one on the right and there is no point in cleaning the one on the left.