Ocean 180 is an NSF funded initiative run by COSEE Florida (Florida Center for Ocean Science Excellence). You may know COSEE as the group who graded and recorded every student presentation at the Benthic Ecology Meeting this year (read my post about Benthics here). In short, these guys are awesome. They promote science communication and … Continue reading
Category Archives: Science and Communication
Top 5 Things I Learned at The Benthic Ecology Meeting 2014
This past weekend I traveled to the 43rd Annual Benthic Ecology Meeting in Jacksonville, Florida. This years event was hosted by the University of North Florida. If you haven’t heard of them before, check them out. They have a nice new biological sciences building and they are doing some cool research! This was my first … Continue reading
How to Find Your Science Story
People like stories. Scientists have all heard the suggestion to communicate your science as a story when communicating with the public. But what about to fellow scientists? Do we then get the dry, impersonal version of your science? Unfortunately, it often turns out that way, but established science communicators are now suggesting science stories be … Continue reading
#SciREN– Marine Scientists and Educators of North Carolina Join Forces
If you follow us on Twitter, you have probably seen lots of content about #SciREN. If you weren’t at the workshop, let me tell you how it works. Marine scientists from North Carolina submitted lesson plans to the workshop and then met up at North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores (a great venue, by … Continue reading
Paradigm Shifts in academic publishing: Is how we write a problem?
Recently I have been exploring the topic of science writing and communication, through a class on science comm, this blog, and through reading tons of papers (because you know, grad student). Throughout my adventures I have discovered something very interesting. Often I will read a paper inside of my own field, tangentially related to my … Continue reading
The importance of spreading science responsibly
[Full Disclosure: I wrote this article for the express purpose of sharing this gifset: Cosmos with Carl Sagan] It is unsurprising that the recent creation/evolution debate stirred up some voracious animosities both in real life, and in comments on our very own blog. Discussions about the nature of science are rarely brought to center stage … Continue reading
Bill Nye the Science Guy versus Ken Ham the Creation Man: Who Won the Debate?
Instead of doing my homework, last night I sat down and watched the entirety of the Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham debate/showdown. For those who avoided the whole thing, Bill Nye (a famous science educator) and Ken Ham (a Christian author who believes that Creationism should be taught in schools alongside evolution) agreed to meet … Continue reading
The “Nature” of scientific publishing. Are high impact journals distorting the scientific process?
A Nobel Prize winning biologist has announced a boycott of high impact journals such as Nature, Science, and Cell. When a Nobel Prize winner says something like that, people listen. The question is really whether or not that stance is well founded. Randy Shekman, the Nobel winner in question, is the editor of an open access … Continue reading
The plight of the early career scientist (and grad student)
” How the world is failing at its climate goals” “Put the heat on subsidizing climate change” “Remember the government shutdown? It is still screwing over scientists in Antarctica” “Did climate change cause typhoon Haiyan?” These are just a few of the many headlines that have caught my eye over the past week. Everywhere I … Continue reading
Story telling in science? Is it valuable? The science says yes!
This recent article by Michael D. Jones discusses the merits of telling a good story. Right… So we know that already. What else do we already know? How about this: recent Gallup poll data reveal that only 57% of the American public believes that the main cause of global warming is human activity. Now, what if … Continue reading