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16 December 2022
Distillations: Mapping the seafloor with computer games
Many might think that we know most or all there is to know about our world. On the surface, that might be somewhat true. But below the surfaced, we’ve mapped less of the oceans than of places outside our world like Mars and our moon.
15 December 2022
Distillations: Quilting science & changing climates
When you think of a combo of science & art, what comes to mind? Drawings? Dance? Music? How about quilting? Laura Guertin, Professor of Earth Science at Penn State Brandywine, was looking for creative and innovative to do just that when she came across the idea of showing the effects of climate change (among other things) via quilts!
9 December 2022
30-Fire: Bringing fire back to the land
Fire is a part of life for many indigenous groups, but for decades cultural burning was restricted and even criminalized. Now, fire is being brought back to the land by indigenous groups to help prevent big blazes, create resilient ecosystems, and provide resources for indigenous communities.
4 November 2022
25-Fire: Forests under (mega)fire in the Pacific Northwest
Climate change is accelerating as human-made greenhouse gasses continue to warm our atmosphere. Megafires certainly evoke climate change doomsday feelings, but are these types of fires new to the PNW or were similar instances occurring prior to 2020?
9 September 2022
18.5-The (not so) secret histories of scientists
Science is all about experimentation, discover, and sharing those results. But what happens behind the scenes? What stories do scientists have to tell that don’t make it in the manuscript or the classroom lecture?
2 September 2022
18-Ice: Ancient knowledge for modern tech
To the untrained eye, Arctic ice appears unchanging, but conditions can shift quickly, and often reveal life-threatening hazards when they do. It is an unforgiving environment, but the Inuit know how to navigate it. That knowledge has been passed down through generations, and a new app is giving centuries-old Inuit knowledge a very modern form.
29 August 2022
CHIPS and Science Act: AGU highlights and takeaways
On 9 August 2022 President Biden signed into law the Chips and Science Act. While it is largely talked about as an investment in our semiconductor industry and a national security win, this law is arguably more about advancing the U.S. scientific enterprise. At the heart of the science portion of the law is a compromise between the policies set forth in the Senate U.S. Innovation and Competition Act …
10 August 2022
Senate Appropriations Committee majority release their FY23 spending bills
Just before Congress’ August recess, Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee released all 12 of their Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) appropriations bills. In this post, we’ll detail the Committee majority’s spending and programmatic highlights for federal science agencies and offices. Department of Energy Budget (rounded to the nearest million) FY22 FY23 President’s Budget Request (PBR) FY23 Senate Appropriations Percent Change Senate FY23 vs FY22 Percent Change Senate FY23 …
22 July 2022
12.5-A podcast of ice and fire
Cool off from the summer heat with our next six-part miniseries all about ice – from those who call it home to its use as a tool in science.
15 July 2022
12-Extinctions: Space station splashdown
The International Space Station feels like a permanent fixture. It’s been up there since 2000! But earlier this year, NASA announced it is bringing the ISS back to earth in the 2030s as it plans for new space stations.
27 May 2022
6-True story: Migrating robins & thieving capuchins
Emily Williams has traveled the world in search of birds. As a biologist, she’s worked in Kansas, Argentina, Australia, and Denali, and studied loons, flycatchers, kingbirds, and more. And even with all these experiences and diverse species interactions, she’s now landed (ha, get it?!) on studying the common robin.
29 April 2022
1-True story: Slapped by a (misinformation) shark
David Shiffman is a shark guy. It’s in his Twitter handle, he’s writing a book about it, and he was wearing a shark shirt the day we interviewed him. But more broadly he’s a marine conservation biologist, meaning he studies all sorts of ocean-going animals.
22 April 2022
True (science) stories you’ve never heard before
Third Pod from the Sun is back, and we’re going weekly! Join us as we combat misconceptions about sharks, learn how to lasso lizards, hear from a Martian here on Earth, spark science joy via Tiktok, journey to Antarctica, and fight over food with some capuchins!
21 February 2022
Muddy Water Has Town Official Singing the Blues
Coastwatch GLERL NOAA imagery December 17, 2021 (annotated). Several years ago, when our kids were young and at least one was still in elementary school, I visited a class of 3rd graders taught by a friend of the family’s and put on a soil erosion demonstration. The “show and tell” consisted of setting up rainfall simulators for two contrasting land cover types represented by two baking pans: one filled with …
25 January 2022
AGU’s 2022 Policy Priorities
As a scientific society whose members’ research and interests span the universe, AGU’s science policy interests are just as vast – from scientific integrity to funding for science to building resilience to natural hazards. Building upon the work done in 2021, our 2022 policy priorities are to: Fund discovery and solution-based earth and space sciences for the benefit of humanity; Create an equitable, diverse, inclusive and just scientific community; Build a climate and hazard resilient nation; and Protect environmental and human health. …
10 December 2021
AGU welcomes first cohort of Local Science Partners
Congratulations and welcome to the fifty-five AGU members who will be the inaugural cohort of Local Science Partners, a new program empowering scientists to build sustainable partnerships with their policymakers. As ambassadors, the first class of member partners brings scientific expertise, passion, and a diverse range of interests to their work integrating the sciences with decision-making. The cohort ranges from early-career scientists to distinguished professors’ emeriti; from biologists to geologists to oceanographers; and from those working in academia to nonprofits to the private sector. …
9 December 2021
Legal education for scientists events at #AGU21
The Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (CSLDF) and AGU work together to help scientists from all geoscience disciplines understand their legal rights and responsibilities—knowledge that’s an essential part of every researcher’s professional development. This is the tenth year we’re partnering on the Legal Education for Scientists Program, and we’re offering a range of events at the 2021 Fall Meeting. Whether you’re actively involved in science activism or curious about the …
22 November 2021
Staff Picks: Toxic City Under the Ice
In 1959, the United States built an unusual military base under the surface of the Greenland ice Sheet. Camp Century was a hub for scientific research, but it also doubled as a top-secret site for testing the feasibility of deploying nuclear missiles from the Arctic. When Camp Century was decommissioned in 1967, its infrastructure and waste were abandoned under the assumption they would be forever entombed beneath the colossal sheet of ice.
15 October 2021
New science policy engagement program; applications open now!
AGU is piloting a new program, Local Science Partners, that will cement sciences’ place in decision-making by empowering AGU members to build trusting, sustainable partnerships with policymakers. AGU’s new program will pair AGU members with their legislators and provide AGU member partners the tools, resources and training to build sustainable relationships with their legislators. The goal of Local Science Partners is to advance AGU’s policy agenda and diversify sciences’ Congressional …
23 June 2021
Standing Up for Science During an Epidemic
Before COVID, before the swine flu, there was the bird flu outbreak of the mid-2000s. An international group of scientists came together to combat the deadly virus, including Dr. Ilaria Capua, a virologist, and now Director of the One Health Center of Excellence at the University of Florida, Gainesville. Capua played a key role in helping to quell the outbreak, but little did she know that experience would not be the most trying moment of her career.
