You are browsing the archive for Antarctic Log Archives - The Plainspoken Scientist.
22 January 2021
#AntarcticLog: The Future of Science & Action
Thanks to voices like these, my ears are tuned — and my heart is ready — for serious and swift progress on saving the earth for future generations. May our leaders be strong and brave.
15 January 2021
#AntarcticLog: Science & Action
If ever there was a shaky time, this is one. I can say that from the perspective of my years. But for kids, it’s the only time they know. So I’m especially impressed at the ones who speak up, and I’m finding them all over the world. I want to draw and quote them all — whether they’re famous (Nobel prize contenders like Greta Thunberg, who just turned 18 last week) or not, part of worldwide initiatives or lone actors.
8 January 2021
#AntarcticLog: Goodbye 2020
Happy New Year! Here’s a comic for the new year that looks back at some of the damage done. Nonetheless, I’m looking forward to 2021. How about you? It helps to have rose-colored glasses, otherwise known as a positive view. This could come from an excess of irrational optimism. Or it could come from young activists who often hashtag posts about their activities to fight climate change with #fridaysforfuture.
3 January 2021
#AntarcticLog: Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! Let’s share a cup of something-or-other for days of time gone by — even if it’s champagne to express our joy at seeing the back of 2020.
25 December 2020
#AntarcticLog: Dimethylsulfoniopropronionate (er…plankton stuff)
Pete and Paty were going to Antarctica to study dimethylsulfoniopropronionate, a material produced by plankton. DMSP, as it’s called, may impact the plankton’s predators, as well as cloud formation and climate. Just reading that name used to make me break out in a sweat.
18 December 2020
#AntarcticLog: Showcasing Palmer Station
March 2018 found me aboard the Gould with a small team of scientists from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science in East Boothbay Harbor, Maine. I’d met Dr. Pete Countway on a research ship in the Pacific years before, where we dived in the submersible Alvin to explore hydrothermal vents — and, for Pete, the deep-sea microbial life there. Now he was taking his studies to surface microbes, phaeocystis plankton.
11 December 2020
#AntarcticLog: Creating a visual story journal
Quite a bit goes into getting to Antarctica. The first hurdle was getting accepted to the Antarctic Artists and Writers program. The second was passing the physical qualification requirements — the dreaded PQ. A bit of a nervous nellie, I raced off to begin this lengthy process with the necessary blood tests. Later in the day, once facing the needle was over with, I’d get to work on a plan for my comic.
1 December 2020
Introducing #AntarcticLog
In 2017, I learned that after several years of applying, I’d finally made the cut: the National Science Foundation was funding me to travel to Palmer Station, Antarctica, under the Antarctic Artists and Writers program, as a member of a team of researchers from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. My plan: to create a visual journal that would show our experiences in writing and drawings. The intention: to share the journal online for the two-month duration of our trip.
The Plainspoken Scientist is the science communication blog of AGU’s Sharing Science program. With this blog, we wish to encourage scientists to reach out to non-scientists and to do so with plainspoken discussion.