You are browsing the archive for science and society.
24 September 2021
#AntarcticLog: Edible (kind of) spiders
If you were going to make an Antarctic cake, what would you put on it? Rose McAdoo — steward at McMurdo station, polar explorer, and baker extraordinaire — has baked cakes to display scientists’ data, taught prison inmates to decorate cakes, and created this one, complete with sea spider.
17 September 2021
#AntarcticLog: The importance of stories
By now I shouldn’t be surprised — just grateful — at the way certain stories have broad appeal. I’m beginning to learn to trust myself — that stories and images that appeal to me will affect others too. Maybe not the same way as they affect me, but in the way of individual people wherever they are. For example, this one, featuring Mother Earth.
10 September 2021
#AntarcticLog: Caring for one ocean
The idea of the seven seas is a romantic notion; every ocean on Earth is one ocean. What happens in one part of the ocean system — say the melting of glacial ice into the Southern Ocean — impacts the rest. Likewise, the global warming causing glaciers to melt comes from an excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and that makes the ocean warmer — and more acidic.
8 September 2021
Blogging for Science Unsealed
For six years, I participated in one of the most impactful science communication endeavors I’ll ever embark on: I ran Science Unsealed, the blog from the Illinois Science Council. The ISC aims to give folks an opportunity to explore their scientific curiosity, and the blog was my opportunity to further their mission. Besides educating the public, running Science Unsealed did something extra for me: it helped me discover my passion for science writing.
3 September 2021
#AntarcticLog: Melting glaciers
The most vulnerable part of the Antarctic Ice is the Thwaites Glacier, part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Could it melt? Yes — and it’s likely that it has, under different conditions many years in the past.
25 August 2021
#AGURocks: BumbleBee Blues
The natural world abounds with beauty and science reveals deeper patterns that provoke new questions. Science is not only a wellspring of inspiration for musicians but the tools and data of the scientific process can be used to create music as well. For example, I have used mathematical algorithms that mimic the behavior of flocking birds, predator/prey cycles and the human cardiovascular system to create some of my music compositions.
24 August 2021
#AntarcticLog: Science Education
Unlike many people in the sciences, I didn’t have much formal education myself. Much of what I’ve learned, I’ve learned on my feet, by wandering around behind scientists, watching and asking questions. All the more reason that the moment I first walked into the science classroom at my middle school looms large in my mind.
13 August 2021
#AntarcticLog: Climate hope via Greta Thunberg
The International Panel on Climate Change released a report this week full of a big dollop of reality — the impact human life has had on global temperature — and a dose of hope — the potential to stem change if we act quickly. I thought about what I could say about this through #AntarcticLog, skimmed through my nearly 200 comics, and stopped cold at the ones about Greta Thunberg.
12 August 2021
Society partners to launch a portal for community science
Five leading societies are pleased to join forces to form a portal for fostering community science.
9 August 2021
IPCC report affirms the need to address the climate crisis now
The Working Group I (WGI) contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) on the physical science basis of climate change released today shows without a doubt that human activities are changing Earth’s climate and underscores the need to immediately address the climate crisis.
6 August 2021
#AntarcticLog: Warm in Any Weather
T-shirt weather in the northern hemisphere makes me think about measures taken to endure the extreme environments at the poles. When it comes to staying warm in high winds and low temperatures, #AntarcticLog has it covered.
4 August 2021
#AGURocks: Soon May the Kennicott Thin
We arrived in the small town of McCarthy, Alaska in early June 2021 to quantify the retreat of the Kennicott Glacier just up the valley. As part of a project under direction of Dr. Regine Hock, formerly at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and now at the University of Oslo, we measured glacial melt and installed weather stations on debris-covered ice, bare ice, and high up in the mountains.
29 July 2021
AGU suggests improvements to federal scientific integrity structure
On 28 July 2021, AGU submitted comments to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)’s Request for Information to Improve Federal Scientific Integrity Policies.
26 July 2021
Community Science as a Method of #SciComm and #SciPol
Are you interested in breaking down jargon in your scientific field to be more inclusive of others? I found a community-oriented science project did just that. After receiving messages and questions about the state of water systems in Oklahoma during late spring/early summer of 2020, I knew there was an interest within my community to understand water quality.
23 July 2021
#AntarcticLog: Talking climate change science & policy
Palmer Station sits right at the ocean’s edge, at the foot of the Marr Ice Piedmont — the foothills of the glacier. In just decades, the ice has receded at least a quarter of a mile, revealing hidden islands. At the same time, conditions have led penguins and other resident fauna and flora to alter their migrations and nesting patterns. It didn’t take me long to realize that everything at Palmer has to do with climate change. The Antarctic Peninsula is warming at a rate five times that of the rest of the world — and demonstrates the future if climate change cannot be stemmed through human action.
9 July 2021
#AntarcticLog: Midwinter Celebrations
This June things seem special, and fragile. Might as well say hooray about what I can say hooray about. Here are a few celebratory #AntarcticLog to mark this June.
8 July 2021
#AGU21 student resources and grants help to foster the next generation of Earth and space scientists
I am looking forward to seeing friends and colleagues from around the world in New Orleans — and and online—this coming December at #AGU21, and trust you are as well.
6 July 2021
#AntarcticLog: The Value of Light
Summer light: isn’t it glorious? Here in the Connecticut woods, in the northern hemisphere, we’re experiencing the longest days of the year, with dusks speckled by bats and sparkled by fireflies. In Antarctica, the dark days reign. It’s clear enough why: the sun’s angle relative to your spot on Earth makes the light wax and wane around the winter and summer solstice.
25 June 2021
#AntarcticLog: Happy Antarctic Midwinter!
Br-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!
That’s what we think of when we envision Antarctica. But it hasn’t always been this cold.
Despite its distance from the equator, it was still connected to the world ocean.
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.
