Posts

May 24, 2013

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2:02 PM | 4,000 Years of Marine History through the Eyes of a Seabird

Most people have never heard of the Hawaiian petrel, an endangered, crow-sized seabird that spends the majority of its life searching for food over the North Pacific Ocean. Nevertheless, this bird is no stranger to human influence, and it has a stern lesson to teach us about the history of the open ocean. When it comes to what marine predators can find to eat, humans are changing things, and fast. My colleagues and I have spent a number of years studying the […]

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4:31 AM | Building Spanish Galleons 101

Ever dreamed of owning your own ship? Sail the seven seas? Pillage? Adventure? Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, boldly go where no one has gone…oh wait…not that ship…but same idea. If commanding your very own seafaring vessel is on your bucket list, look no further. Thanks to . . . → Read More: Building Spanish Galleons 101

May 22, 2013

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9:48 PM | “Why should men have all the fun?” The seafaring ladies of physical oceanography

There are definitely a lot of research cruise videos out there. But this one caught my eye because, HEY, it focuses on physical oceanography! You learn about the Agulhas current, expensive s**t is thrown into the ocean and you get to meet a bunch of female physical oceanographers! It’s a little long but definitely worth . . . → Read More: “Why should men have all the fun?” The seafaring ladies of physical oceanography

May 20, 2013

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3:45 AM | Whales in a Noisy Ocean

In the ocean, sound rules. Unlike on land, where animals (just like us humans!) get a lot of information from light, animals in the ocean have evolved to take advantage of sound, which is much more effective than light under water. Light gets absorbed quickly, but some sounds, like the low-frequency calls of blue whales, [...]

May 17, 2013

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3:08 PM | 10 Endangered Ocean Animals: Happy Endangered Species Day!

10 Endangered Marine Animals 1. Maui’s Dolphin: found off of New Zealand, only 55 individuals remain 2. Northern Right Whale: found in Atlantic Ocean, only 350 individuals remain 3. Vaquita: small dolphin found off of Baja Peninsula, Mexico, 500-600 remain 4. Mediterranean (less than 400 remain) and Hawaiian Monk Seals (approximately 1100 remain) 5. Sea [...]

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10:30 AM | Quickies

Lots going on in the blogosphere, little of which I'll really take up in favor of mentioning that I'll be visiting Charlotte, NC next week. Any of you in the area are welcome to drop me a note and maybe show me the area some. If there's a Science Cafe in the area with an opening, I'd be glad to stop in and chat.In the mean time, I've continued at a slow pace my work on the ESMR sea ice. See the comment by MMM about the progress that the NSIDC has made on integrating it to the […]

May 16, 2013

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2:38 PM | What does a fin whale call sound like?

If you play back this audio file, you’ll be listening to a couple of fin whales and an earthquake, and according to my dog, that’s some exciting stuff. No, seriously, I played it on my laptop the other day, and Trooper got all agitated, and started growling and barking in what I can only assume [...]

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11:00 AM | You want mustard with that clam?

The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report put out by the Centers for Disease Control makes for fascinating reading sometimes. One came out recently that contains three startling case reports linked to clam beds on the US east coast, but they do not involve, as you might expect, infectious diseases. In the first case a member . . . → Read More: You want mustard with that clam?

May 14, 2013

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6:34 PM | Ocean Treasures Film Festival

This Saturday, May 18 2013 is a FREE Ocean Film Festival at Stanford University. It is called the “Ocean Treasures Film Festival.” “We may not be able to bring the Stanford community to the ocean en masse, but through the spring Ocean Treasures Film Festival we can create an experience that brings the power of [...]

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11:00 AM | It’s not uterUS, it’s uterME

Dear Abby, It’s just not fair. There I was, a freshly produced sand tiger shark embryo, developing nicely and making my way down the ovarian ducts to one horn of the uterus. I had blastulated like a boss, totally owned gastrulation and even did a half decent impersonation of ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny. Things were looking . . . → Read More: It’s not uterUS, it’s uterME

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7:08 AM | Seaweed passion leads to crowd-funding research

Followers of education writing and/or interested in crowdfunding stories may have noticed this one pop up this week: a university academic, Dr Alecia Bellgrove, who is raising money to fund research into edible seaweeds growing along the Victorian southwest coast. She happens to be one of my Deakin marine biology lecturers (who I plan to […]

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5:45 AM | The future of marine science in the UK: It’s all about the money money money…

Follow @D_Aldridge DEFRA report shows the massive pressure that is being put on UK marine science by commercial interests: from setting the research agenda, to running public services for profit, and the desire to dismantle public bodies such as CEFAS and … Continue reading →

May 13, 2013

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5:52 PM | Is this Polar Pod genius or just plain insanity?

People come up with all sorts of wacky ideas to explore the oceans. And here is another one of those ideas. Meet the Polar Pod, a manned research platform dreamed up by French Explorer/Physician Jean-Louis Etienne to drift around Antarctica in the Southern Ocean. My first thought when I saw this concept was WTF. . . . → Read More: Is this Polar Pod genius or just plain insanity?

May 10, 2013

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11:00 AM | TGIF – Wonderful Whale Sharks

Sorry for the silence of late, just spinning a few too many plates. One of those plates was an invited lecture in the STEM lecture series at University of Texas PanAmerican. They just posted it on their website. It’s kind of long, over 50 minutes, but if you’re interested in whale sharks and procrastinating this . . . → Read More: TGIF – Wonderful Whale Sharks

May 08, 2013

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4:00 AM | Salmon Recycling: Waste Not, Want Not

As a research diver for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), one of my jobs is to make sure that people and companies working in the fish industry don’t dump too much waste in the ocean. On my first dive at an underwater waste site, my old salt of a dive partner hinted, “you might see a shark… or three” with a wink. “Okay,” I thought, “I can deal with a couple of sharks.” Descending to the dump site, I soon saw circling dogfish and salmon sharks extending all the way […]

May 07, 2013

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4:13 PM | From coast to canvas: The art of biological illustration

Source: A. Bachar They say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” As cliche as it is, that phrase could not resonate more clearly for this visual learner than when I am flipping through a 10 lb. biology textbook full of thousands of words. I can read through pages and pages describing some ecological process . . . → Read More: From coast to canvas: The art of biological illustration

May 06, 2013

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6:02 PM | Break through 2 months of Antarctic sea ice in 5 minutes

Love, love, love, love this video. Marine scientist Cassandra Brooks strapped a camera to the front of NSF’s icebreaker the Nathaniel B. Palmer as it sailed for two months through the ice-choked Ross Sea off Antartica. But unlike her, you don’t have to sit through two-months of ice smashing while fighting your shipmates for the . . . → Read More: Break through 2 months of Antarctic sea ice in 5 minutes

May 05, 2013

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9:49 PM | Outreach, the academic formula, and the need for critical examination

COMPASS recently published a commentary in PLOS Biology on the journey from science outreach to meaningful engagement. This post attempts to synthesize a series of reactions, reflections, and personal experiences that followed with the hope to expand the conversation. Read the summary post here, or track the conversation by searching for #reachingoutsci Image courtesy of . . . → Read More: Outreach, the academic formula, and the need for critical examination

May 03, 2013

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3:00 PM | The mystery of the shifting tropical rain belt

This week’s science+comics interview is brought to you by Yen-Ting Hwang, a UW Atmospheric Sciences student in the final year of her PhD. Ting’s work is focused on large-scale climate dynamics. The Sahel region in Africa is a semi-arid boundary along the southern edge of the Sahara desert. The people living in this region are [...]

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3:02 AM | Circle hooks more humane choice for sharks, rays and sportfish

Just saw this Southern Fried Science post (nothing to do with chicken, everything to do with shark conservation) about the benefit of using circle hooks – a method I’m yet to try but definitely support. Here’s their description of the hooks: Circle hooks are used by recreational and commercial hook-and-line fisheries (and many longliners) to reduce hooking mortality [...]

May 02, 2013

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10:11 PM | 10 Reasons Why Bone Eating Worms Are F’n Awesome

The deep-sea Osedax bone-devouring worms could easily have been the poster child for Deep-Sea News instead of the Giant Squid. Below is list of 10 reasons why Osedax are the shiznit. The chicas are freaky. All whalebone-eating, female worms have dwarf males, up to 114 in Osedax rubiplumus, fruiting around inside of their body. The . . . → Read More: 10 Reasons Why Bone Eating Worms Are F’n Awesome

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4:00 AM | Virtual Book Reading with Daniel Botkin

Editor's note: This is an excerpt from Daniel Botkin's new book The Moon in the Nautilus Shell: Discordant Harmonies Reconsidered. He will be in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, May 8th for a lecture and book signing through the Smithsonian Associates. The Nautilus and the Moon: (From Chapter 14) My mind meandered from thoughts of the shallow European sea to those of the far-off Pacific Ocean...

May 01, 2013

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9:30 AM | Assessing forecasts

This is actually part of pursuing whether ESMR was screwy, but I decided that to show that nothing was up my sleeve, it was time to talk some about assessing forecasts. That, and it's something I've been meaning to talk about for a while. The thing is, forecast assessment is not nearly as simple as we sometimes think. Having judged many a science fair project that is comparing weather forecasts, I've seen many of the same issues come up there, too. For precipitation forecasts, […]

April 30, 2013

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8:16 PM | A New Stereomicroscope for $440?

Can you smell that? Despite being spring it smells just a little less green. Indeed, there is a little less green around me. Sure the plants around me in North Carolina are in full emerald plumage. However the green that really matters—dollars, money, cash, currency, dough, bread, Benjamins, dough, bank, cabbage, chedda, dead presidents, folding . . . → Read More: A New Stereomicroscope for $440?

April 26, 2013

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3:00 PM | Stars in the Andromeda Galaxy find the fountain of youth

This science+comics post takes us where this blog has never gone before: to outer space. Phil Rosenfield is a PhD candidate at UW in the department of Astronomy, and studies stellar and extra-galactic astrophysics (woah). He uses data collected on the Hubble Space Telescope to look at stars in distant galaxies and is particularly interested [...]

April 25, 2013

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8:09 PM | The only lady of the academic seas

Mariners have a long-standing tradition of naming their vessels after the ladies. However, when it comes to research vessels this has not been the case…until now. For the first time, a research ship will be named after a woman. The Navy’s next ocean-class auxiliary general oceanographic research (AGOR) will be named after Sally Ride, the . . . → Read More: The only lady of the academic seas

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7:19 PM | Wranglin’ the Mighty Mesograzer

Underwater Rolly Pollie also known as Elasmopus levis.Source: Matt Whalen Amphipods and I, well, we have a love/hate relationship. I love them because, for all intents and purposes, they are the rolly pollies of the ocean. And come on…who doesn’t love rolly pollies!? However, when it comes to using these crusty critters in experiments, all . . . → Read More: Wranglin’ the Mighty Mesograzer

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4:00 PM | 10 Cool Facts About Penguins: Happy World Penguin Day!

1. There are 17-20 species of penguins worldwide. 2. The tallest penguin is the Emperor Penguin (3ft7in or 1.1m) which weighs 75lbs (35kg) or more. 3. The shortest penguin is the Little Blue Penguin or Fairy Penguin (16in or 40cm) which weighs 2.2lbs (1m). 4. Penguins have a thick layer of insulating feathers to keep [...]

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11:09 AM | Glider community visits Liverpool

On 18 April 2013, the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) welcomed the ocean glider community to Liverpool for a workshop to showcase UK glider activities and developments. We would like to thank all participants for making this such a rewarding event. The UK glider community visits Liverpool © The UK operates one of the largest glider fleets in Europe. This gathering of UK researchers and technology specialists was the largest for over two years. It was endorsed by the UK […]

April 24, 2013

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4:25 PM | An Introduction to Social Media for Scientists, now in PLoS Biology

Science is defined by expertise. We researchers are constantly trying to expand our own knowledge, or collaborate with those who can contribute the necessary skills. Unfortunately, developing “internet skills” usually isn’t top priority for scientists – despite the fact that we now live and work in a over-connected, technology-driven society. Given this scenario, fellow marine . . . → Read More: An Introduction to Social Media for Scientists, now in PLoS Biology