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18 June 2021
#AntarcticLog: Stopping to Smell the Roses
I adopted a dog a year ago (just celebrated her “Gotcha Day”) and so I’ve been outside walking her every day since then, rain or shine, snow or heat wave. I’ve watched her change every day — and I’ve watched the woods where we live change every day, and I’m here to tell you, every day offers different gifts.
14 June 2021
Introducing #QuiltYourScience
I’m a geologist, an educator – and yes, a quilter. I’ve been quilting for a number of years, but in 2018, I started focusing my quilts on sharing stories of science. I created a series of quilts on Stitching Hope for the Louisiana Coast, telling stories of adaptation and resilience to the impacts from climate and sea level faced by residents in southern Louisiana. But it wasn’t until this year I sewed my first data visualization quilt.
11 June 2021
#AntarcticLog: An Abecedarium of Pleasures and Perils
Now I know that Antarctica is not designed to be hospitable to humans. In fact, from the moment you arrive — and even before (ask me about the Drake Passage sometime) you sense that the place is set up to kill you. It helped that I had created this #AntarcticLog comic, a list of just a few of the ways the place can kill you. (Believe me, I had to leave a lot out!)
9 June 2021
AGU community provides recommendations and ideas for implementing climate change solutions to NSF
In mid-April, NSF contacted AGU and several other societies to rapidly convene our respective communities and provide robust input and innovative ideas on climate change solutions to help inform a potential implementation strategy.
7 June 2021
Making #SciAnimations Using PowerPoint
If you find yourself needing to show some movement or change when describing your science, and you usually do this by drawing arrows, consider using making a short animation.
4 June 2021
#AntarcticLog: Antarctic Trees (from long ago)
No, there are no longer trees in Antarctica — though there were, many thousands of years ago. (Did you know Antarctica used to be unfrozen? But that’s another story for another post.) But trees — especially the oak trees featured in these three #AntarcticLog comics — have plenty to say about what’s going on in their environment, and around the globe.
28 May 2021
#AntarcticLog: Reeling in Kids
#AntarcticLog is created with a broad audience in mind — from the savviest adults to kids new to the subject of scientific research — and adventure! — in the Antarctic. This week’s examples come from a series created to introduce kids (of any age) to the Antarctic food chain.
21 May 2021
#AntarcticLog: Plankton is (surprisingly) cool
Before the pandemic, a long time ago (or so it seems), I used to go to New York City and wonder at all the people — and their brilliant personalities, ideas, forms, and functions — concentrated in that small space. One time I made my way to a midtown gallery where Pete Countway, a researcher at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science, had plankton on display.
14 May 2021
#AntarcticLog: Polar Seals
The polar seals are another force to be reckoned with as a comic creator. No, I’m not about to embark on a series of comics about individual species of polar seals, but I did want to check in with a few seal stories so far. Seals have got both the Antarctic and Arctic pretty well figured out in terms of adaptations. Their blubber, fur, swimming and diving ability, and eating habits– not to mention their chill both in terms of attitude and energy conservation (i.e. lying around doing nothing) — equips them to deal with these extreme environments.
12 May 2021
#AntarcticLog: Permafrost isn’t so frosty
Based on the last few thousand years, it’s supposed to be like this: After a winter freeze comes a spring thaw. Not that there isn’t plenty of evidence of climate change: tornadoes and a longer growing season are among the easiest to see. Toward the poles, however, where global warming is multiplied, bigger changes are afoot: underfoot, actually, as the permafrost layer thins, buckles, and crumbles.
#RhymeYourResearch: Memory of a Flower
“Memory of a Flower” was inspired by an article I read about the learning flights that honey- and bumblebees take after encountering a nectar-rich flower. These flights involve the bees repeatedly turning and facing towards the flower as they depart from it, studying its characteristics.
AGU announces update to its name change policy
AGU is pleased to announce an update to its corrections policy to allow for more flexibility around author name changes in our publications to better align with our values of diversity, equity and inclusion.
5 May 2021
DrawnToGeoscience: #CrochetYourPHD
It is always great to remember that science communication is a deep sea of learning, the more you dive in, the more secrets you will learn and the more treasures you will find. Bringing these treasures to the surface does not always require complex tools or extraordinary skills. You will be surprised if I told you that simple methods will work the best. From storytelling to science writing, the terms and the language you use really make a difference.
3 May 2021
SciComm as Dialogue—not Monologue—in Appalachian Kentucky
Want to reach out to nontraditional geoscience stakeholders? Have you wondered how to engage them or who they might be in the first place? A pilot project in a five-county area of eastern Kentucky is showing us at the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) how we can go beyond traditional science communication strategies to reach new stakeholders and help them solve problems in their communities.
28 April 2021
100 days in, Biden administration shows strong commitment to science
This Friday, 30 April, marks U.S. President Biden’s 100th day in office. The new administration has shown a strong commitment to science, including elevating the Office of Science and Technology Policy to a cabinet-level position, rejoining the Paris Agreement, committing to reducing U.S. emissions by about 50% below 2005 levels by 2030, as well as laying out how the administration will address the world’s climate crisis.
26 April 2021
Next Steps in the Growth of ESSOAr
Seven societies, including AGU, are joining together to further enable open science by officially participating in the governance and continued development of ESSOAr.org, the Earth and Space Open Archive.
22 April 2021
#RhymeYourResearch: anthropo-obscenity
Later on, in the peer-review for publication in Consilience Journal, the reviewers strongly suggested changing the last line and thus removing the explicit reference to Lilith’s Brood. With a heavy heart, I bowed to their arguments – mainly to make the poem more accessible for a wider audience. Still, killing my darling ‘oankali trade’ somehow feels like treason to one of my favorite writers.
21 April 2021
Sharing #SciArt: #AGURocks, #DrawnToGeoscience, & #RhymeYourResearch
The goal was to not only showcase thee amazing ways of communicating science via art but to also show folks the creative process behind the creations; to pull back the curtain to hopefully lower the barrier(s) to entry for those who may have thought about scicomm via art but thought that it was too difficult/they didn’t have the talent.
20 April 2021
AGU announces new board members to advance its bold strategic plan
On behalf of the AGU Board, we are excited to announce Peter Schlosser, John Podesta and Tong Zhu as our new board members. They will be instrumental in helping to execute the strategic plan for a thriving, sustainable and equitable future supported by scientific discovery, innovation and action.
19 April 2021
#AntarcticLog: A whale of a time
What animal lives on the edge? If you’re like me, whales aren’t the first thing that comes to mind. And yet… this week’s #AntarcticLog examples tell the stories of whales with vastly different experiences when it comes to eating.
