Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The zircon who knew too much: Retrenchment blogging, day 42

I have just been offered a 6 month geochronology contract with Geoscience Australia. The aim is to help them work through their backlog of U/Pb ion probe zircon dating. The contract says that a security clearance is required. Now, I don’t know what state secrets these mineral grains hold, or how bombarding them with 10KeV O2- ions will reveal this information, much less endanger the operations of the Australian government. But you won’t find out from me. Loose lips sink ships. And they wreak havoc on high vacuum systems when you try to pump them down. So mine are sealed.

9 comments:

Silver Fox said...

How much trouble is it to get a security clearance? Hopefully it doesn't take too long! Zircon, what zircon?

Ron Schott said...

Aaah, but a mass spectrometer can be used to enrich uranium - very, very slowly...

Garry Hayes said...

Glad to hear something came up. Good luck

Chris R said...

Glad to hear you've found some employment!

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you don't know about the fifth world shadow zircon society. *Rolls Eyes* Also, congratulations! :)

EliRabett said...

Any way to help?

Kim said...

I'm glad you found something!

Maybe the zircons put that clause in the contract. After all, they've kept their secrets for 4 billion years.

EcoGeoFemme said...

yay!

Wayfarer Scientista said...

Congrads! I too have a new job/ contract. Will blog about it soon.